Quentin Tarantino has stated that he plans to retire from directing after his 10th movie but what will he do after he’s done?
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Quentin Tarantino has stated numerous times in the lead up to the release of his latest film The Hateful Eight that he would retire from directing after he finishes his 10th release.
While there’s always a chance that number gets extended by an extra film or possibly doing something on television, Tarantino isn’t backing down from his claim that he wants to get out while his work is still at its peak.
There’s no doubt Tarantino could direct just about anything at this point and his rabid fans will go see whatever he makes, but the prolific writer behind Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs says he wants to finish his body of work while he’s still on the rise rather than stick around too long and end up on a decline.
“I think I am actually,” Tarantino told Conan O’Brien about his desire to retire after 10 films. “I could extend it to 11 or something, but I don’t think it’s going to be 14 or 15 or anything like that. I think 10 sounds good. I want there to be an umbilical cord from my first film to my last film — and I’m not making fun of anybody who feels differently and a lot of directors work for a long time — but I don’t want to be a director that just works for a long time and creatively it’s not going as up as it was before, it’s going down hill a little bit more.
“Also just some directors keep directing because they don’t know what else to do. It’s their life and that’s all they know what to do. I like the idea of doing a body of work — 10 movies, OK that’s it, that’s what I have to say — and let that filmography stand for itself.”
Now Tarantino has stated that he might dip his big toe into a television project before it’s all said and done including the adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s novel Forty Lashes Less One that could be a miniseries he would write and direct.
But once he’s finished directing his final film, Tarantino will walk away from making movies and dedicate himself to new projects and other ways to fill his time.
According to Tarantino, he has a lot of ideas of what he will do once directing is finished and he’ll always be a creator, it just won’t be for the movie business any longer.
“I’m a writer and my work has been taking a turn towards the literary anyway in the last 10 years,” Tarantino said.
“I would write plays and probably direct them, I’d write novels, I could write film pieces and film criticism books. Things like that. Be a man of letters. That sounds like a nice way to spend your twilight years.”
Following the release of The Hateful Eight, Tarantino hasn’t even speculated on what might be his ninth movie but there are always more than a few ideas floating around his head.
Either way it appears Tarantino is resolute in his decision to finish 10 movies and then call it a career as a director and there’s little doubt Hollywood will definitely be a less interesting place without him in it.
