Yes, Quentin Tarantino still plans to quit making movies after he hits 10. Which means yes, this summer’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood could very well end up being the penultimate feature film from writer/director Quentin Tarantino. The Oscar-winning filmmaker has long maintained that he wants to give up moviemaking after he hits his 10th film because, to his mind, a director’s quality of work only gets worse as they go along. Tarantino feels like he wants to leave behind an oeuvre without a single misfire, and so far he’s on his way.
Speaking with GQ Australia, Tarantino reiterated the fact that he’s going to retire from filmmaking after his next movie:
“I think when it comes to theatrical movies, I’ve come to the end of the road,” he says. “I see myself writing books and starting to write theatre, so I’ll still be creative. I just think I’ve given all I have to give to movies.”
In fact, Tarantino even takes a moment to consider retiring after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the interviewer’s suggestion:
“Well, um,” says Tarantino, thinking it over for a second, “if it’s really well received, maybe I won’t go to 10. Maybe I’ll stop right now! Maybe I’ll stop while I’m ahead. We’ll see.”
And while Tarantino certainly loves to talk about plans that may or may not ever come to fruition (RIP The Vega Brothers, Kill Bill Vol. 3, etc.), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star Brad Pitt believes he’s serious about hanging up his directing hat:
“No, I don’t think he’s bluffing at all,” says Pitt, when we put this to him. “I think he’s dead serious. And I kind of openly lament that to him, but he understands the math of when he feels like directors start falling off their game. But he has other plans and we’re not going to have to say goodbye for a long time.”
We know that Tarantino is in talks to potentially direct a Star Trek movie for producer J.J. Abrams based on his own original idea, which is still very much in play. But if he does end up directing Trek, would Tarantino really go out with a non-original project? Doesn’t he have a deeply personal screenplay stashed away somewhere that he wants to make as his swan song? Or maybe I’m just trying to think of excuses that keep Tarantino making movies for the next few decades.
We’ll have to see what happens, but as of right now, Tarantino hasn’t changed his mind. We’ve almost seen the last Quentin Tarantino movie ever.
