Quentin Tarantino reaffirmed his plans to retire after the release of his tenth film at a distribution presentation for his upcoming western The Hateful Eight.

Quentin Tarantino Talks The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight, a harsh Western starring Walter Goggins, Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bruce Dern, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Damian Bichir and Channing Tatum, his eighth film, is currently in pre-production. Tarantino, along with Goggins, Jackson, Russell and Leigh, were present for a presentation about the film in early November, where Tarantino was trying to sell distributors his vision for a strict, 70 mm film release.

Tarantino spent some time discussing his inspiration for The Hateful Eight. “It’s less inspired by one Western movie than by Bonanza, The Virginian, High Chaparral,” Tarantino said. He also discussed the beauty of film and was open about his hope that the release of The Hateful Eight on 70-mm film and not digital projection will help create audience demand for the return of film.

“If we do our jobs right by making this film a 70-mm event, we will remind people why this is something you can’t see on television and how this is an experience you can’t have when you watch movies in your apartment, your man cave or your iPhone or iPad…. I’m hoping it’s going to stop the momentum of the digital stuff, and that people will hopefully go, ‘Man, that is going to the movies, and that is worth saving and we need to see more of that,’” he said.

Quentin Tarantino Still Plans To Retire After 10th Film

During the discussion, Leigh jokingly complained at being invited to join Tarantino’s troupe of actors just as Tarantino is threatening to retire, sparking disbelief from Russell and Jackson, who teased the Pulp Fiction director, saying he could never do anything else.

Tarantino, however, doubled down on his plans to retire after completing his tenth film, telling Jackson that, in retirement, he would spend his days “writing plays and books, going gracefully into my tender years.”

Tarantino went on to say that he didn’t want to wear out his welcome in cinema. “I don’t believe you should stay onstage until people are begging you to get off. I like the idea of leaving them wanting a bit more. I do think directing is a young man’s game, and I like the idea of an umbilical cord connection from my first to my last movie. I’m not trying to ridicule anyone who thinks differently, but I want to go out while I’m still hard,” Tarantino declared.

While ten may seem like an arbitrary number, Tarantino said he liked the idea of a “10-film filmography.” However, the director did allow himself room to change his mind, saying, “It’s not etched in stone, but that is the plan. If I get the 10th, do a good job and don’t screw it up, well that sounds like a good way to end the old career. If, later on, I come across a good movie, I won’t not do it just because I said I wouldn’t. But 10 and done, l won’t not do it just because I said I wouldn’t. But 10 and done, leaving them wanting more – that sounds right.”

Tarantino has previously tortured fans by declaring his plans to retire in 2012, when he told Playboy, “I just don’t want to be an old-man filmmaker… Directors don’t get better as they get older. Usually the worst films in their filmography are those last four at the end… I don’t want that bad, out-of-touch comedy in my filmography, the movie that makes people think, ‘Oh man, he still thinks it’s 20 years ago.’ When directors get out-of-date, it’s not pretty.”