Over the past decade, Quentin Tarantino has regularly announced his intention to retire from filmmaking after the release of his tenth film.
The director and screenwriter, who has directed such classic films as Pulp Fiction, Mad Dogs and Kill Bill, initially stated in 2009 that he planned to retire as soon as he turned 60 — which he did on March 27 this year — in order to “go and write novels and film literature and the like.”
He confirmed this desire in 2014 during an event to promote his 2015 film “The Abominable Eight” (saying that his days after retirement would consist of “writing plays and books, gracefully moving into my tender years”), and then talked about his 10 films: and-the output plan.
“I like that I will leave a filmography of 10 films, and so I have two more after that,” he said (via Deadline). “It’s not engraved in stone, but that’s the plan. If I get to tenth, do a good job and don’t screw up, well, that sounds like a good way to end an old career. If I get a good movie later, I won’t do it just because I said I wouldn’t. But 10 and done, leaving them wanting more—that sounds right.”
In the last few weeks, news has emerged about Tarantino’s tenth feature film, The Film Critic, which will begin shooting in Los Angeles in the fall. Could this upcoming movie be Tarantino’s swan song?
How many films has Quentin Tarantino directed?
His list of directorial works, which currently covers the period from 1992 to 2019, includes 10 separate films: “Mad Dogs” (1992), “Pulp Fiction” (1994), “Jackie Brown” (1997), “Kill Bill: Volume 1” (2003), “Kill Bill: Tom”. 2 (2004), death Proof (2007), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django unchained (2012), Hateful eight (2015) and Once in Hollywood (2019).
However, Tarantino and many of his fans consider the first and second volumes of Kill Bill to be one film (especially since he subsequently fulfilled his original intention to combine the two volumes into one film), which reduces the total number of his directorial works to nine films. .
It is also worth noting that he directed one of the episodes of the 1995 anthology film “Four Rooms”, and also acted as a “guest director” in one of the scenes in “Sin City” in 2005. However, none of these works are included in the official list.
What did Tarantino say about his retirement plans?
Back in 2012, Tarantino told Playboy, “You stop when you stop, but in the bizarre world of 10 films in my filmography, it would be nice. I’ve done seven… if I stop at 10, it’s fine as an artistic statement.”
Two years later, during the aforementioned “Disgusting Eight” event, where he spoke about his plan for a “filmography of 10 films”, Tarantino spoke about the reasons for his retirement: “I don’t believe that you should stay on stage until people beg you to leave. I like the idea of leaving them wanting a little more. I really think that directing is a young people’s game, and I like the idea of an umbilical cord connection between my first and my last film. I’m not trying to make fun of those who think otherwise, but I want to leave while it’s still hard for me.”
He held this position in 2015, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “Well, I’m probably only going to make 10 films, so I’m already planning what I’m going to do after that. That’s why I count them. I have two more left. I want to stop at a certain place. What I want to do mostly is write novels, and I want to write theater productions, and I want to direct a theater. I actually want to do a theatrical adaptation of The Abominable Eight because I really like the idea that other actors have a chance to play my characters and see what happens.”
Telling GQ that The Abominable Eight “might be my best movie, if not at least in my top four,” he added, “If the movie projection goes the dodo way, well, then maybe I won’t even get to 10 [films].”
Fast forward to 2021 and see an appearance in “In Real Time with Bill Maher,” where Tarantino responded to the eponymous host’s argument that he was “too young to leave, and you’re at the top of your game.”
“That’s why I want to quit!” replied Tarantino. “Because I know the history of cinema, and from that moment the directors don’t get better… I don’t have a reason that I would like to say out loud that will win any dispute in the court of public Opinion or the Supreme Court, or something like that. At the same time, working for 30 years, starring in the same number of films as me, not as much as other people, but it’s a long career. It’s a very long career. And I gave him everything I have.”
In an interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace in November 2022, Tarantino continued to insist that he intended to retire. “I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and it’s time to end the show. As I said, I’m an artist: I want you to want more, not just to work — and I don’t want to work for diminishing returns. I don’t want to become this old man who has lost touch when I already feel a little out of place when it comes to the current movies that are coming out right now. And that’s what happens.”
What did Tarantino say about his tenth film?
It looks like Tarantino will really retire from filmmaking after film number 10, and all the attention was focused on what exactly his next and probably last film will be.
In that 2021 interview with Bill Maher, he revealed that he was “considering doing a remake of Mad Dogs as his last film,” before quickly adding, “I’m not going to do that, internet, okay? But I’ve thought about it.”
Tarantino also hit the headlines after news broke in 2017 about his interest in directing the Star Trek movie, but in 2019 the director publicly rejected the idea.: “I think I’m giving up on Star Trek, but I haven’t had an official conversation with these guys yet,” he told Consequence of Sound.
Confirming on The Howard Stern Show in November 2022 that he was “going to make another movie,” Tarantino added: “But the thing is, right now I’m in no hurry to write a script for a movie, because what does that even mean? What is cinema today?”
Five months later, however, came the first news of “Film Criticism,” Tarantino’s supposed last film. During a question-and-answer event at the Grand Rex Theater in Paris at the end of March, Tarantino confirmed that the action of “Film Critic” will take place in 1977, and filming should begin in the fall in Los Angeles.
He added that, contrary to previous reports, the upcoming film will not be dedicated to the famous film critic Polina Kel.
