For years director Quentin Tarantino has been adamant that he would only direct 10 feature films before retiring. He has now made nine of those movies, because Kill Bill is considered one movie, regardless of the endless debates on whether it is or not. Fans are certainly wondering what the capstone on this impressive career might be, but we now know one story that won’t be told in film number ten, the story of Quentin Tarantino.
In Tarantino’s most recent appearance on the ReelBlend Podcast, the topic of movie directors telling autobiographical stories, such as Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film The Fabelmans was brought up. Considering that Tarantino does include some autobiographical elements in his upcoming book Cinema Speculation, it was suggested that maybe that could be an angle for the director’s next film, but Tarantino shot that down, saying…
No, I'm not interested in doing my last movie, ‘The story of Quentin.’ As egomaniacal as I give my own self credit for, that might be a bridge too far! [laugh] For even I! ‘The final Quentin Tarantino movie. The final Quentin Tarantino story! Starring Jared Leto!’ [laugh] … I don't think that's gonna be my last movie. [laugh] ‘The Quentin Tarantino story, starring George Hamilton!’
On the one hand Quentin Tarantino doesn’t exactly seem like the sort of director to make a movie about himself. At the same time, it would certainly make for an interesting endcap on the career, to make the tenth movie he directs the story of him becoming a director, and even include the making of the other nine films. For what it’s worth, Tarantino’s friend and collaborator Roger Avery, who joined him on the podcast, thought it was a good idea for a last movie.
But now that we know what the 10th Quentin Tarantino movie won’t be, one has to ask the obvious question of what it will be. At this point it seems all but certain it won’t be a Star Trek movie, though Tarantino had previously indicated that if he ever did make that film, since he’d be coming in to direct an existing IP rather than telling his own original story, it wouldn’t count as his tenth movie. It also won’t be a Django Unchained crossover with Zorro, which is a crime.
Quentin Tarantino’s nine previous films have all been movies that earned him acclaim, box office success, and a couple of Oscars. Whatever the man has cooking for his tenth film is sure to be something special. And more than likely, if Tarantino truly means for it to be his last film, then he probably wants it to be something special as well. Until then, fans will be able to pick up Cinema Speculation in November, and they still have his other nine movies to enjoy while they wait for number 10.
