Quentin Tarantino has addressed comments about his “fetish” for women’s feet throughout his body of work.

The filmmaker has used shots of female cast members feet in everything from Kill Bill to Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, to the point where Brad Pitt jokingly thanked the feet of his co-stars Margot Robbie and Margaret Qualley during an awards acceptance speech for his role in the latter.

• READ MORE: ‘Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood’ film review – Tarantino’s most satisfying work in decades

Tarantino was asked about his directorial trope during a recent interview with GQ, and defended his decision.

“There’s a lot of feet in a lot of good directors’ movies,” he said. “Like, before me, the person foot fetishism was defined by was Luis Buñuel, another film director. And Hitchcock was accused of it and Sofia Coppola has been accused of it.”

He summarised the trope as “just good direction,” and added, “I don’t take it seriously”.

Tarantino recently disclosed details about the turbulent relationship with his mother. The filmmaker spoke on the podcast The Moment about how his mother, Connie Zastoupil, ridiculed his writing at an early age.

When his academic results began to slide, the director said his mum mocked his screenplay writing. “My mom was bitching at me about [writing screenplays]… and then in the middle of her little tirade, she said, ‘Oh, and by the way, this little writing career’ – with the finger quotes and everything – ‘this little writing career’ that you’re doing? That shit is fucking over,’” Tarantino recalled.

Zastoupil has since responded. “Regarding my son Quentin – I support him, I’m proud of him and love him and his growing new family,” Zastoupil told USA Today. “It gave me great joy to dance at his wedding and receive his news upon the birth of my grandson Leo.”