Quentin Tarantino Opens Up About Why He “Pulled the Plug” on THE MOVIE CRITIC
Quentin Tarantino is still on the hunt for his final film, and now we finally shares why The Movie Critic didn’t make the cut.
The legendary director had previously teased the project as his tenth and final movie, and fans were eager to see what kind of cinematic mic drop he had in store. But as it turns out, Tarantino decided to walk away from the project even after writing the full script.
On The Church of Tarantino podcast, Tarantino opened up about why he ultimately scrapped the film.
“No one’s waiting for this thing per se. I mean, I can do it whenever I want. I mean, it’s already written. So OK, let me just not start it right now,” he explained.
“Let me try writing it as a movie and let me see if it’s better that way. And I was like, ‘Oh, OK, no, I think this is going to be the movie.’ And then it wasn’t. I pulled the plug on it. And the reason I pulled the plug, it’s a little crazy.”
The idea for The Movie Critic began as an eight-part limited series, which Tarantino then shaped into a feature film script. While he admits he was hyped about the writing process, the energy didn’t carry over to pre-production.
“I was so excited about the writing, but I wasn’t really that excited about dramatizing what I wrote once we were in pre-production.”
That lack of enthusiasm wasn’t the only red flag. Tarantino also challenged himself with the subject matter, which centered around a seemingly mundane profession.
“But there was a challenge that I gave to myself when I did it. Can I take the most boring profession in the world and make it an interesting movie?” he said.
“Every Tarantino title promises so much, except The Movie Critic. Who wants to see a TV show about a f*ing movie critic? Who wants to see a movie called The Movie Critic? If I can actually make a movie or a TV show about somebody who watches movies interesting, that is an accomplishment.”
Set in 1977 California, the story was reportedly inspired by a real-life, lesser-known writer who reviewed movies for a porn magazine. Despite earlier reports that it would be a continuation of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Tarantino shut that down hard.
“It’s a spiritual sequel to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood in so far as they take place in the same world and they take place in the same town. But there were no crossover characters. Cliff Booth was never in The Movie Critic. That’s all a bunch of bull**. That never was the case ever, ever, ever.”
That hasn’t stopped Brad Pitt’s character Cliff Booth from living on. While The Movie Critic is no longer on the table, Pitt is reprising his role in Netflix’s upcoming film The Adventures of Cliff Booth, directed by David Fincher.
So what’s next for Tarantino’s final movie? That remains a mystery. According to sources, he’s gone back to the drawing board, looking for a new idea that will truly excite him and his fans.
I’d still like to see what Tarantino had planned for The Movie Critic. He should just go back to his original plan and develop it as a series. Then it wouldn’t count as his finale film.
Source: Deadline