Quentin Tarantino’s (supposed) swan song is imminent.
The legendary director is currently working on “The Movie Critic,” which he says will be his 10th and final film. Details are sparse, but the movie is expected to be released in 2025.
Here’s everything we know, so far.
Is this really going to be Tarantino’s last film?
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For more than a decade, Tarantino has declared that he wants to stop directing films after his 10th movie. According to the filmmaker, he’s concerned that the quality of his projects could decline if he continues for too long.
“In a fanciful world, 10 movies in my filmography would be nice,” he told Playboy magazine in 2012.
“I just don’t want to be an old-man filmmaker,” he said. “Directors don’t get better as they get older. Usually, the worst films in their filmography are those last four at the end.”
The award-winning director and screenwriter elaborated two years later, saying that he’d prefer to retire on a high note.
“I don’t believe you should stay onstage until people are begging you to get off,” he said. “I like the idea of leaving them wanting a bit more. I do think directing is a young man’s game, and I like the idea of an umbilical cord connection from my first to my last movie.”
“If I get to the 10th, do a good job and don’t screw it up, well that sounds like a good way to end the old career,” he said, adding that he’s not opposed to coming out of retirement for a good movie, but he’s also content to stop while he’s ahead.
During a 2019 press conference for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Tarantino said that he’s envisioned his final movie as “a little more epilogue-y.”
Tarantino has stood by his comments, telling CNN’s Chris Wallace in 2022 that he’s ready to “wrap up the show.”
“I don’t want to become this old man who’s out of touch,” he said. “Already I’m feeling a bit like an old man out of touch when it comes to the current movies that are out right now.”
How steadfast Tarantino is in his decision to retire from filmmaking remains to be seen. After all, directors before him — like Steven Soderbergh, David Lynch, and Hayao Miyazaki — have un-retired or walked back comments after making grand declarations.
The movie is inspired by a real-life film critic who worked for a pornography magazine
When “The Movie Critic” was first reported to be in the works back in March, the premise was a little bit different. At the time, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the film would be set in Los Angeles in the 1970s and center on a female character. The publication also implied that Pauline Kael, who wrote film reviews for The New Yorker and died in 2001, inspired the premise.
During an interview with Deadline at Cannes in May 2023, Tarantino said that the movie takes place in California in 1977.
But contradictory to THR’s report, Tarantino said the titular character “is based on a guy who really lived, but was never really famous, and he used to write movie reviews for a porno rag.”
Tarantino described the person who inspired the movie as “cynical as hell” and “very funny” in his writing. At the time of the interview, the filmmaker ruled out Leonardo DiCaprio and Pitt as the leads, saying they were too old for the part. The real-life critic died in his late 30s.
“I haven’t decided yet but it’s going to be somebody in the 35-year-old ballpark,” he told Deadline. “It’ll definitely be a new leading man for me.”
Brad Pitt is reportedly set to star in ‘The Movie Critic’
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Deadline was the first to report Pitt’s involvement in early February. It’s unclear if the actor will play the lead role or another character, though Deadline suspects it’s the former.
This marks Tarantino and Pitt’s third collaboration. Pitt previously portrayed Lieutenant Aldo Raine in the 2009 movie “Inglourious Basterds” and stuntman Cliff Booth in the 2019 film “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” — which earned him his first Oscar for acting.
There’s no release date yet
According to The Hollywood Reporter, filming will begin in 2024 or early 2025 in hopes of a 2025 release. We’ll update this post as we learn more.