Quentin Tarantino has said on multiple occasions that he only wants to direct ten movies and then retire to focus on other endeavors like writing books. His latest film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is billed as number 9, but Tarantino has also been linked to a new Star Trek movie, so would he really retire on a franchise picture?

CinemaBlend recently spoke to Tarantino about whether he’d wrap up his film career on Trek, and Tarantino kind of gave himself an out:

“I guess I do have a loophole, [if] the idea was to throw a loophole into it. Which would be [to go], ‘Uhhh, I guess Star Trek doesn't count. I can do Star Trek … but naturally I would end on an original.’ But the idea of doing 10 isn't to come up with a loophole. I actually think, if I was going to do Star Trek, I should commit to it. It's my last movie. There should be nothing left handed about it. I don't know if I'm going to do that, but that might happen.”

First off, let’s keep in mind that the “ten movies” thing is totally arbitrary. There’s no law that says Tarantino can only direct ten films. Also, depending on how you number his movies, he’s already at ten since Kill Bill is split into two volumes and there’s Death Proof, which was part of Grindhouse. So either you count Kill Bill as one movie (in which case, someone really needs to release The Whole Bloody Affair) or you ignore Death Proof. Also, Tarantino’s reasons that Star Trek doesn’t count because it’s not an original, but then what about Jackie Brown, which is an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch?

I agree that if Tarantino wants to hang it up, it would be better for him to leave on an original rather than adapting Star Trek. While I would love to see Tarantino’s Trek, I also think that it will never be fully his, and the only way it would be a powerful statement is if it stands as a monument to the franchise filmmaking of today. That would be kind of bittersweet, but I think it would be better if he left on his own project since Trek will still be around whether or not Tarantino makes it his final project.

Tarantino’s “9th” movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, opens July 26th.

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