If you were holding out hope that Quentin Tarantino’s tenth and final movie before retirement would be Kill Bill Vol. 3, well, sad news for you. THR reports Tarantino is preparing a film titled The Film Critic as his swan song, and like Kill Bill and Jackie Brown before, it’ll feature a female lead.
While details on the film are unknown, the report goes on to speculate that it could be about notorious, influential critic Pauline Kael. If true that Tarantino’s film is set “in late 1970s Los Angeles with a female lead at its center”, then it’s all but a certainty that Kael is at least an influence, because she clearly was for him. You can just read his recent book, Cinema Speculation, or watch the 2018 documentary What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael to see the impact she has made on Tarantino’s career.
THR adds…
“In the late 1970s, Kael had a very brief tenure working as a consultant for Paramount, a position she accepted at the behest of actor Warren Beatty. The timing of that Paramount job seems to coincide with the setting of the script — and the filmmaker is known to have a deep respect for Kael, making the odds of her being the subject of the film more likely.”
We know Tarantino likes to work with the same actors, so perhaps Margot Robbie for this one? Or maybe Margaret Qualley?
The Film Critic already has a completed script by Tarantino, and he plans to shoot this fall. So we may not have to wait for the eventual studio bidding war to break out.
I personally don’t think Tarantino can wrap his career up so neatly like this, and he’ll eventually get behind the camera again. He’ll keep working in television, though, so if he does stick by his word we’ll at least have some shows to look forward to.
