Tarantino sees red over screeching macaws

Quentin Tarantino, the Oscar-winning director, is embroiled in a court case with his Los Angeles neighbour and fellow-director Alan Ball. Tarantino claims Ball's pet macaws prevent him from working at home by letting loose "blood-curdling" shrieks at random times every day.

In his films, Quentin Tarantino often sends in the heavies to silence the unfortunate.

But in real life, the Oscar-winning director and writer of Pulp Fiction and True Romance is sending in the lawyers to try to quieten a bunch of exotic birds.

In a recently filed action at Los Angeles Superior Court, Tarantino claimed the pet macaws of his neighbour Alan Ball, the creator of the television vampire drama True Blood, emit "blood curdling screams at random intervals for seven to eight hours each day".

Taking their cue from their client, Tarantino's lawyers began the action by quoting a line from Goethe: "He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home."

The action continued colourfully, describing " the pterodactyl-like" noises that have been robbing Tarantino of being able to work from home.

The case of the macaws dates back to 2009 when Tarantino began to hear "ear-splitting shrieks and screams" coming from Ball's property.

The suit alleges that in February of 2010, a fed-up Tarantino visited the defendant to negotiate an amicable arrangement.

Ball allegedly agreed to ensure that the birds would stay indoors until their new soundproof outdoor aviary was built.

However Tarantino claims Ball, who also directed American Beauty, broke the neighbourly agreement by keeping the birds in a non-soundproofed outdoor aviary.

"Though one might assume that, as a fellow writer, Mr Ball would understand and respect a writer's need for peace and quiet while he is working, that assumption would be wrong," the suit said.

Ball has yet to make a statement about the case.