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Quentin Tarantino has spoken again about his retirement – and his reluctance to make one last movie. The director has famously said that he would retire after making 10 movies, and he's currently on number 9.
"Most directors have horrible last movies," Tarantino told the Pure Cinema Podcast. "Usually their worst movies are their last movies. That’s the case for most of the Golden Age directors that ended up making their last movies in the late '60s and the '70s, then that ended up being the case for most of the New Hollywood directors who made their last movies in the late '80s and the '90s."
Tarantino's number 9, AKA 2019's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, would be a good note to end on, too – the movie was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes. His other movies include Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Inglorious Basterds.
"I mean, most directors’ last films are fucking lousy," he added. "Maybe I should not make another movie because I could be really happy with dropping the mic."
In the meantime, the filmmaker is turning his energy to other pursuits instead – namely, writing. He signed a two-book deal with HarperCollins last year, the first of which will be a novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, out later this month. It will follow the movie’s protagonists, TV actor Rick Dalton (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the film) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), both forward and backward in time.
Book number two, titled Cinema Speculation, will be nonfiction – it’s been described by the publisher as a “deep dive into the movies of the 1970s, a rich mix of essays, reviews, personal writing, and tantalising ‘what if’s’, from one of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, and its most devoted fan.” In the past, Tarantino has cited film critic Pauline Kael as a literary hero and has previously dabbled in criticism himself.
While we wait for Tarantino's tenth to make its way to our screens (or not), check out our list of the best Netflix movies that you can stream right now.
