In 2019 Quentin Tarantino released ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ and in 2023 he announced that he was going to film ‘The Movie Critic’, which would be his last film. However, it seems that the filmmaker responsible for titles like ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ has reconsidered his priorities and the project will ultimately not go ahead.
Tarantino had already been working on ‘The Movie Critic’ for several months, which was known to be set in California in 1977 and inspired by the real figure of a film critic who wrote his reviews in a porn magazine. The film was going to feature Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth, the role he already played in ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ and which earned him an Oscar award.
Various names of stars as brilliant as Tom Crusie had been rumored to join the film, but now The Hollywood Reporter reports that Tarantino has abandoned the project, which at the moment was not linked to any studio.
The production was going to shoot for one day in August to qualify for a $20.5 million California tax benefit, a ruse to boost financing for the project. The rest of filming was then scheduled to resume in early 2025.
Tarantino already spoke of his desire to retire in 2012 during an interview with Playboy. “I want to stop at a certain point. Directors don’t get better as they get older. Normally, the worst films in their filmography are the last four. What matters most to me is my filmography, and one bad film ruins three good ones,” he noted.
Furthermore, in 2020 he reiterated his desire to retire to focus on his family. “I feel like this is the time for the third act of my life to lean a little more toward the literary, which would be good as a new father, as a new husband,” she told ABC News’ Popcorn. “I wouldn’t take my family and take them to Germany or Sri Lanka or wherever the next story takes place. I can be a little more of a homebody and become a little more of a man of letters,” he added.
The praised director, more recently, announced in an interview for La Vanguardia last year that he was no longer motivated to make more films. “But it’s something that has nothing to do with movies. I think making ten is a perfect number. And, besides, I want to spend more time with my family.”
However, Tarantino is expected to continue working in the industry and has hinted that he could direct miniseries or plays in the future. He is now also a writer and in 2021 he published a fictionalized version of ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’.
