If you’re a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s movies, then you’re aware that the 10th movie he plans to direct is also expected to be final one. Last year, it was revealed that this last flick would be The Movie Critic, but apparently that’s no longer the case. Surprisingly, word’s come in that Tarantino’s scrapped the project.
According to Deadline, the filmmaker “simply changed his mind” on making The Movie Critic. The outlet shared that Tarantino had rewritten the script, which delayed the start of production, but he then decided that he didn’t want this to be his last directorial hurrah after all. Now he’s going back to the “drawing board” to figure out what will take its place.
This is arguably the biggest twist in Quentin Tarantino’s career since he shelved The Hateful Eight after the rough draft of his script leaked, then later decided to make it anyway. In this case though, The Movie Critic will never be shown on the big screen, though part of me hopes that Tarantino will consider publishing the script so that we can read what we missed out on. The now-shelved movie was inspired by a real-life “second string critic” who “used to write movie reviews for a porno rag” that were “a cross between early Howard Stern and what Travis Bickle might be if he were a film critic.”
The last big update on The Movie Critic came in February, when it was revealed that Brad Pitt would appear in it. These two, of course, previously worked together on Inglorious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but when this news originally came out, it was unclear if he’d be playing the lead role or not. Fast-forward to now, though, THR mentioned in its writeup of The Movie Critic being scrapped that Tarantino had decided to have Pitt reprise Cliff Booth, his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood character, though it was unclear if this new film would be a prequel or sequel to that 2019 critical and commercial success.
More to come…