Yahoo Finance Quentin Tarantino Jokes Son Leo Was Not Named After Leonardo DiCaprio: He's 'Our Little Lion'
Quentin Tarantino is opening up about fatherhood.
Giving a rare peek into his life as a dad to 16-month-old son Leo, the celebrated film director chatted with Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday's episode of his late-night talk show about life with a little one. Tarantino, 58, insisted that his baby boy's name was not, in fact, inspired by Leonardo DiCaprio, despite having worked together on Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
"We almost didn't name him that because people would assume I named him after Leonardo DiCaprio," the director said. "There's nothing wrong with that, but … he's named after my wife's grandfather, but also because, just in our hearts, he was our little lion."
"So he's a lion. That's how we thought about him," the Oscar winner added, who also discussed his soon-to-be-released novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood on the show.
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The Weinstein Company; Sony Pictures Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained (L) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Tarantino, his wife Daniella and their son are currently living in Tel Aviv, Israel - and the location has seemingly inspired Leo's speech.
"He's talking - they're not necessarily words, but he makes himself understood," the director said. "He can only say one word and that is 'abba,' which is the Hebrew word for 'dada.' And a third of the time, he means me."
When Kimmel, 53, jokingly asked how soon it would be before Leo was "saying the F-word" (an expletive used liberally in many of his guest's films), Tarantino joked with a laugh, "As soon as possible."
In all seriousness, the dad added, "I'm actually learning a lot with Leo, because he watches these baby TV [shows] and it's all in Hebrew. I'm learning the Sesame Street version of Hebrew."
Jimmy Kimmel/YouTube Quentin Tarantino
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PEOPLE confirmed baby Leo's arrival in February of last year. He was born in Tel Aviv.
"Daniella and Quentin Tarantino are happy to announce the birth of their first child," the filmmaker's rep said in a statement to TMZ and E! News.
Tarantino and Daniella, who is the daughter of Israeli singer-songwriter Tzvika Pick, first met in 2009 while the director was in Israel promoting his film Inglourious Basterds.
The couple got engaged in June 2017, and married in November 2018 during an intimate Los Angeles ceremony.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel is out Tuesday, but available for preorder now on amazon.com.
