LOS ANGELES • The backlash against film director Quentin Tarantino's remarks about police violence has expanded with the National Association of Police Organizations and the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association supporting a call for a police boycott of The Hateful Eight and his other films.

A boycott - which had already been endorsed by police organisations in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and elsewhere - picked up considerable strength with the endorsement last week by the national police group.

In a statement posted last Thursday on its website, the group objected to what it called Tarantino's "anti-police rhetoric", and asked supporters to boycott his films and not to provide security or technical advice for his future projects.

Representatives for Tarantino declined to comment on Sunday.

According to an earlier report by The Associated Press, Tarantino - who has made an art form of cinematic violence in films such as Pulp Fiction (1994) and Django Unchained (2012) - on Oct 24 told a gathering in New York organised by the RiseUpOctober group that he regarded some police shootings as murder. "I'm on the side of the murdered," the report quoted him as saying.

The protest occurred shortly after New York police officer Randolph Holder was shot dead while chasing a suspect in East Harlem, heightening police concerns about violence against them. The growing calls for a boycott pose an acute challenge for The Weinstein Company, which is counting on The Hateful Eight as both an Oscar bet and a possible box-office hit.

The film, set for release on Christmas Day, is a western tale about a bounty hunter, played by Kurt Russell, and his encounters with hard characters while trying to bring an accused murderess, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, to a reckoning.

NEW YORK TIMES