Quentin Tarantino Considering Retiring From Directing Out Of Fear That His Last Film Could Be His Worst

Quentin Tarantino has revealed that he has considered ending his career as a film director following the release of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019 starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. Tarantino has proven to be a controversial yet highly acclaimed director – all nine of his films have been met with great success despite the many complaints of the violence being too excessive or some of the scenes within his movies going on for too long. Several movies directed by Tarantino have been nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards including Inglorious Basterds from 2009, Django Unchained from 2012 and, most recently, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Tarantino has always stated that he would to retire following the completion of the potential tenth film that he directed. However, the popular director revealed that he has considered getting out while he is ahead with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood due to the fact that many directors have made final films that have turned out to receive a poor reception both critically and financially. “Most guys have horrible last movies,” Tarantino told podcast Pure Film Cinema. “Usually their worst movies are their last movies. And that’s the case for most of the Golden Age directors that ended up making their last movies in the late ’60s and the ’70s, then that ended up being the case for most of the New Hollywood directors who made their last movies in the late ’80s and the ’90s.”

Tarantino listed the director of the highly praised 1967 biographical crime film Bonnie and Clyde, Arthur Penn, and his last movie Penn & Teller Get Killed from 1989 as an example. “The fact that Arthur Penn’s last movie is Penn & Teller Get Killed is, like, a metaphor for how crummy most of the New Hollywood directors’ last, last films were. So, to actually end your career on a decent movie is rare. To end it with, like, a good movie is kind of phenomenal. It’s just rare.” Tarantino believes that ending with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood would be the perfect film to end his career with. “I mean, most directors’ last films are f—ing lousy. It’s making me think that maybe I should not make another movie because I could be really, really happy with dropping the mic on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” he said.

The director has stated that while he is not officially retiring from the film industry, he may throw in the towel as a director due to the fact that both cinema and audiences are changing while more and more new and talented directors come in. “I haven’t retired, so me talking about the aesthetics of retiring before I’ve retired is kind of obnoxious,” he said. “I do feel that directing is kind of a young man’s game, and cinema is changing. I’m now more part of the old guard than I was before.”