Harsh Vardhan
The wait for Quentin Tarantino’s final film has been extended indefinitely! The filmmaker has dropped ‘The Movie Critic,’ which was announced as his tenth feature. As per reports, Tarantino scrapped the project after having a “change of mind.” The film was initially scheduled to start shooting in Los Angeles in the fourth quarter of this year. Brad Pitt was announced as a cast member in February.
Set in California in 1977, ‘The Movie Critic’ revolved around a man who crafts film critiques for a magazine focused on adult entertainment, The Popstar Pages. According to Tarantino, the critic is inspired by a real individual. During his teenage years, one of the director’s occupations involved replenishing a vending machine dispelling pornography magazines. Despite the dubious legality of such a job for a teenager, Tarantino acknowledged developing a deep admiration for the film critic who contributed to a publication he refers to as a “porno rag,” declining to disclose its name.
Tarantino emphasized his intention to maintain a degree of fidelity to the life of the anonymous film critic. “He wrote about mainstream movies and he was the second-string critic. I think he was a very good critic. He was as cynical as hell. His reviews were a cross between early Howard Stern and what Travis Bickle might be if he were a film critic,” the filmmaker told Deadline. “He wrote like he was 55 but he was only in his early to mid-30s. He died in his late 30s. It wasn’t clear for a while, but now I’ve done some more research, and I think it was it was complications due to alcoholism,” he added.
Tarantino acknowledged the limitation in casting his usual go-to actors like Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio, as they exceed the protagonist’s age. “I haven’t decided yet, but it’s going to be somebody in the 35-year-old ballpark. It’ll definitely be a new leading man for me,” Tarantino explained.
Speculation swirled about Paul Walter Hauser being in negotiations for the lead role before the SAG-AFTRA strikes, but there have been no updates since the strikes concluded. Pitt then joined to play an undisclosed role. If the project had materialized, it would have been the fourth collaboration between the actor and Tarantino, following his roles in ‘True Romance’ (1993), ‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009), and ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood‘ (2019), the latter of which garnered him his inaugural Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Even though Tarantino dropped the film for now, it is not impossible that he will change his mind again and decide to move forward with ‘The Movie Critic.’ The filmmaker shelved ‘The Hateful Eight’ after a rough draft of his script was leaked online after it was given to a small group of actors. Tarantino eventually returned to the project after a reading of the screenplay at a charity event, garnering “rave” reviews.
Tarantino scrapped the film despite securing a $20 million tax credit from the state of California. It will not be a surprise if the filmmaker decides to return to the city to shoot his next film, whichever it is, considering his affinity for Los Angeles. “I started directing movies here and it is only fitting that I shoot my final motion picture in the cinema capital of the world,” Tarantino commented. “There is nothing like shooting in my hometown; the crews are the best I’ve ever worked with, and the locations are amazing. The producers and I are thrilled to be making #10 in Los Angeles,” he added.
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