Quentin Tarantino on Why He Pulled Plug on Planned Last Film

Director Quentin Tarantino has said his 10th film will be his last—but that film will definitely not be The Movie Critic. Tarantino planned to direct his script of that name after initially considering it for a TV series, but in pre-production, realized he wouldn't be expanding much on his skillset. That's because his main challenge with Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood—"How are we going to turn Los Angeles into the Hollywood of 1969 without using CGI?"—was the same one presented with The Movie Critic, set in 1977. "I already kind of knew, more or less, how to turn LA into an older time," he said on the "Church of Tarantino" podcast, per Variety. "It was too much like the last one."

Tarantino also said he felt he'd already achieved his goal with The Movie Critic—to make "an interesting movie" about "the most boring profession in the world," he said, apparently referring to the script—though he left open the possibility of returning to the project. As for the speculation surrounding his 10th film, including the decision to have David Fincher direct the Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood sequel The Adventures of Cliff Booth, Tarantino assured fans that he is "not paralyzed with fear" or "fragile about my legacy," just looking to venture into "uncharted territory," per Variety and the Wrap. Looking back, Tarantino said Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is "my favorite" film, Inglourious Basterds is "my masterpiece," and Kill Bill is "the movie I was born to make," per Esquire.