Quentin Tarantino Reveals Why He Scrapped ‘The Movie Critic’
Quentin Tarantino is pulling the curtain back on the real reason he decided to scrap The Movie Critic during pre-production.
During an episode of The Church of Tarantino podcast, the director explained the “crazy” reason he “pulled the plug” on what was initially intended to be his cinematic swan song.
The Movie Critic was originally conceived as an eight-part TV series, but at some point Tarantino decided to shift the concept to a feature-length film script instead.
“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 okay, let me just not start it right now. Let me try writing it as a movie and let me see if it’s better that way. And I was like, ‘Oh, okay, no, I think this is going to be the movie.’ And then it wasn’t. I pulled the plug on it,” Tarantino explained.
While Tarantino said he was “so excited about the writing” for The Movie Critic,” he “wasn’t really that excited about dramatizing what I wrote once we were in pre-production.”
“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? 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,” the filmmaker continued.
As far as the rumors go that the movie was going to be a sequel to his film One Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino explained that “never was the case ever,” saying The Movie Critic would only have been a “spiritual sequel ... 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—,” Tarantino clarified.
READ MORE: The Reason Quentin Tarantino Abandoned His Star Trek Movie
Last April it was reported that Tarantino, who previously said he planned to retire following the release of his 10th film, “had a change of heart” regarding what was meant to be his last-ever movie, The Movie Critic. The film was going to be set in 1970s California and follow a man who wrote movie reviews for a “porno rag,” according to the director.
Time will tell what Tarantino, who has so far released nine movies across his career, ultimately decides will be his actual final film — if he decides to keep making movies at all.
At Sundance earlier this year, the director admitted he was in “no hurry to jump into production” as he has shifted his focus to live theater, and has been working on a play he hopes to bring to the stage in a year or so. “If that’s a smash hit, that might be my last movie,” he teased.
Everything We Know About the One Upon a Time in Hollywood Spinoff Movie
Brad Pitt will reprise his role as stuntman Cliff Booth in the upcoming Netflix spinoff movie The Adventures of Cliff Booth, based on the character featured in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
The 1970s-set spinoff, which isn’t related to Tarantino’s scrapped project The Movie Critic, is being directed by David Fincher (Zodiac, Gone Girl) via a screenplay written by Tarantino.
This will mark the third collaborative project for Fincher and Pitt, who previously worked together on 1995’s Seven and 1999’s Fight Club. Additional confirmed cast members include Carla Gugino, Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Holt McCallany, JB Tadena, and Corey Fogelmanis.
The Adventures of Cliff Booth will mark Fincher’s third Netflix-exclusive film following 2020’s Mank and 2023’s The Killer.
The movie is currently filming in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles.
