Tarantino speaking to the NYT‘s A.O. Scott on his work with actors:
I think it’s a three-way thing. I write good characters for actors to play. I cast actors with integrity, as opposed to trying to just match whoever’s hot with something going on. It’s like my character is more important than any given actor, if that makes sense…And then I do know how to direct actors, how to modulate them, get the best out of them. And I understand my material.
Tarantino, more than almost any other director working today, lives and breathes his material. Regardless of what you feel about his films, his casting choices are pretty unimpeachable.