Tag: Quentin Tarantino

'The Movie Critic' Scrapped By Quentin Tarantino, '70s-Set Pic Had Brad Pitt Reprising Cliff Booth Role
Posted on in Film News, News

‘The Movie Critic’ Scrapped By Quentin Tarantino, ’70s-Set Pic Had Brad Pitt Reprising Cliff Booth Role

In a shocking twist of fate, writer/director Quentin Tarantino has decided not to move forward with “The Movie Critic” later this year (Sony Pictures was attached to distribute) as a report from Deadline announces the project has been scrapped entirely and the filmmaker will pivot to something else as his tenth, and final, film. “The Movie Critic” had longtime collaborator Brad Pitt attached to play a role, which the outlet claims would have been a reprisal of Pitt’s charismatic stuntman character Cliff Booth from “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.”

Other plot details were a little murky but would have followed a movie critic in Los Angeles during the 1970s that was writing for a “porno rag” and likely would have invited itself to feature the seedy underbelly of the city. There were also hints from Tarantino it would have homaged things like the violent revenge flick “Rolling Thunder,” and the protagonist was said to be similar to Travis Bickle from “Taxi Driver.” The former could have been an entry point for Cliff Booth to get involved, as that film featured two military buddies getting revenge together.

You never know; perhaps Tarantino will turn the script/project into a book instead.

This wouldn’t be the first time Tarantino has gotten cold feet ahead of production on one of his movies. You might remember that he once got so fed up with a leak of an unfinished version of “The Hateful Eight” script during the casting process that he pumped the breaks, and it was only until he did a live stage reading of the script that Tarantino ultimately decided to give the project a second shot.

Meanwhile, there have been plenty of unmade ideas in the past, who knows how far he ever got with these, that simply were spoken about in interviews that never materialized like “The Vega Brothers” movie, a fabled “Kill Bill 3” where Kiddo and Bibbi had to fight off revenge seekers, and there was even a time when Tarantino wanted to do an adaptation of the Len Deighton spy novels “Berlin Game,” “Mexico Set,” and “London Match.“

What comes next for Tarantino is a bit of mystery as a second project wasn’t on deck, and there was an expectation that “The Movie Critic” would be the filmmaker’s final theatrical feature.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, News

‘The Movie Critic’: Tom Cruise Could End Up Appearing In Quentin Tarantino’s Final Film Starring Brad Pitt

If you weren’t aware Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction”) is looking to hang up his feature film director spurs once he completes his tenth and final film, “The Movie Critic.” The pic is set in 1970s Los Angeles and is said to focus on a cynical movie critic that writes for an unnamed “porno rag” (This could easily be a publication owned by mobsters who had a financial interest in the porn industry) that takes inspiration from Travis Bickle, the lead character from the film “Taxi Driver” alongside potential elements from the revenge thriller “Rolling Thunder.” Telegraphing a violent angle to the film, which tends to be Tarantino’s calling card with his projects. We previously learned that Brad Pitt will be taking the lead role in the film, assumed to be the aforementioned movie critic. There is an equally exciting name that could show up in the film as well.

Not too long ago journalist Jeff Sneider had suggested that Tom Cruise could be potentially vying for a small role in the final Tarantino film. And now, Variety is backing up that claim as well in a new report outlining Cruise’s new attempts to get back to acting-focused projects not just action blockbusters like his popular “Mission: Impossible” movies. Stating the actor has “had discussions” about joining the upcoming production. Again, the size and character angle for the potential role haven’t been revealed in any great detail.

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This wouldn’t be all that surprising given that Tarantino sang high praises to “Top Gun: Maverick” when he saw it and seemingly, on paper, the two cinephiles could be a great pairing. Of course, Crusie isn’t a stranger to working with famed Oscar-caliber directors like Tarantino. Some of his previous directors include Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Thomas Anderson, and the late iconic Stanley Kubrick on the thriller “Eyes Wide Shut.”

Pitt and Tarantino had worked together before on “Inglorious Basterds” and “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” with the latter earning him a Best Supporting Actor statue at the Oscars. Cruise and Pitt co-starred in the vampire drama “Interview With A Vampire” based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name. More big names are expected to be mentioned for parts in the film and we’ll have to wait until we learn if Cruise ultimately takes a part or not. I also think it’s safe to say longtime muse that Samuel L. Jackson will have a part waiting for him as well.

SOURCE: VARIETY & JEFF SNEIDER

Posted on in Film News, News

‘The Movie Critic’: Brad Pitt To Reunite With Quentin Tarantino For 1970s-Set Final Film

Today, there was a big casting update for Quentin Tarantino‘s next and final theatrical effort, “The Movie Critic.” The movie is said to be focused on a film critic that writes for a “porno rag” during the 1970s in California, however, other major key details are being kept under lock and key and we likely won’t get the full picture until there is a bigger press release about the project. Now comes the big casting update as Deadline reports that Oscar-winning actor Brad Pitt has joined “The Movie Critic” in what the outlet claims is a “lead role.” But any real specifics about his character haven’t been expanded upon.

Pitt has previously worked with the filmmaker on “Inglourious Basterds,” and “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.” The latter role earned the actor his Best Supporting Actor Oscar statue. While it wasn’t a film directed by Tarantino, one of Pitt’s early film roles was a small supporting role as a stoner roommate in Tony Scott’s “True Romance,” which had a script penned by a young Tarantino before “Pulp Fiction” made him an international sensation.

Filming on “The Movie Critic” is expected to begin this year and could be ready by the end of the year if the turnaround on post-production is quick enough as the film getting a prime fall/winter release date could help its awards consideration. Then again, the report mentions a possible 2025 date instead and that Sony Pictures might be involved the studio worked with Tarantino on “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.”

“The Movie Critic” is said to be Tarantino’s final feature film and would mean that plans for things like “Kill Bill 3” or other projects he’s mused about over the years might be saved for the small screen or the books he is aiming to write during his retirement from filmmaking. One of the current television projects he hopes to do is a series version of “Bounty Law,” which is a spinoff of the faux Western series from “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” that starred Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Usually, the casting news for Tarantino projects comes together rather quickly once the main actors are assembled. So, in theory, with Pitt announced we could be hearing about the rest of the cast very soon.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, Rumor

‘The Movie Critic’: Rumor Claims Quentin Tarantino Offered Paul Walter Hauser The Lead Role In His 10th & Final Theatrical Film

Quentin Tarantino has been hyping the next film (his tenth) will be his final entry into the world of theatrical feature film directing as he’s mused about writing more books and making series/miniseries such as “Bounty Law” in his upcoming phase of “retirement.” While we know some of the plot beats and that the title is “The Movie Critic,” we’re still mostly in the dark concerning the all-important element, the film’s casting.

The main lead of the film is said to be a movie critic working in Los Angeles (Tarantino just got approved for a $20 million California tax credit for shooting in the state) for a “porno rag” in 1977 (the year “Star Wars” was released) and is loosely based on a real person (assumed to be someone that Tarantino is familiar with). Tarantino has compared the lead character to that of the Robert De Niro character Travis Bickle from the classic NYC thriller “Taxi Driver” that hailed from director Martin Scorsese and legendary screenwriter Paul Schrader. Taking place in Los Angeles in the late 70’s will certainly give the film a different feel from other things that Tarantino has made, even “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.”

There is a new rumor that suggests at least one actor might be or have been in the mix for that lead role. According to Daniel Richtman via Patreon, he claims that actor Paul Walter Hauser had been offered the unnamed lead role in the pic before the strikes.

Hauser has been gathering steam with standout roles in projects like Spike Lee’s “BlakKklansman” and “Da 5 Bloods,” “I, Tonya,” Disney’s “Cruella,” Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell,” and most recently landing an Emmy nomination for his prison drama “Black Bird” that he co-stars alongside Taron Egerton.

While it’s certainly a name that feels like a good fit for Tarantino, it’s still just a rumor at this point. As with all unsupported rumors that aren’t being echoed by industry trade outlets, take it with a grain of salt. It’s also worth mentioning that Daniel is quick to point out this information was brewing ahead of the Hollywood strikes which is an indicator this could change.

Tarantino isn’t as out of the public eye as he used to be to comment on these sorts of things and does interviews on a regular basis alongside a podcast. So, I would assume he could debunk or support this rumbling if it ends up being brought to his attention. Previously, Tarantino gave clarifying statements when the rumor of the lead character was going to be based on Pauline Kael, a noted female movie critic from the New York Times. This was quickly dismissed as inaccurate information that was circulating. It’s not like mistakes haven’t already been made when covering this upcoming project.

Despite previous working relationships with both Sony Pictures and Netflix, “The Movie Critic” is without an official studio/distribution partner which is expected to change in the very near future as it sounds like Tarantino has figured out financing for the film if he’s applying for tax credits ahead of the shoot, likely sometime in 2024 given the strikes. We have assumed since the film was first announced that longtime cinematographer Robert Richardson would reunite with the filmmaker after first working with him on the two “Kill Bill” installments and “The Movie Critic” would make this their 7th film together.

SOURCE: DANIEL RICHTMAN

Posted on in Film News, News

Quentin Tarantino Reiterates That ‘Kill Bill 3’ Isn’t Happening Due To ‘The Movie Critic’ Being His Final Theaterical Film

For ages, there had been musings from writer/director Quentin Tarantino about revisiting the “Kill Bill” saga with “Kill Bill 3,” having Uma Thurman reprising her role as Beatrix Kiddo, aka, The Bride as she fends off a wave of revenge seekers alongside her now grown daughter, Bibi. Well, with his tenth and final pic secured with “The Movie Critic” expected to go into production soon as casting is said to be on the horizon, Tarantino is seemingly pumping the breaks on all that “Kill Bill 3” hope.

While speaking with Belgian outlet DeMorgan, the filmmaker was quick to shut down potentially casting Uma Thurman’s daughter Maya Hawke, who briefly appeared in “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, as Bibi Kiddo (The Bride’s long lost daughter) in the long-talked-up “Kill Bill 3.” Stating that “The Movie Critic” is his main focus and alludes to the fact the third “Kill Bill” movie won’t be happening.

“I don’t see that. My last film is about a film critic, a male critic. And he plays in the 70s,” Tarantino told the Belgian outlet when asked about casting Hawke alongside her mother.

If you’re not familiar with the next and potentially final theatrical feature film from Tarantino, it is said to be focusing on a male film critic set during 1977 in Los Angeles and is loosely based on a real-life person who wrote for a “porno rag.” The project has been compared to “Taxi Driver” by Tarantino suggesting his lead character is inspired by Robert De Niro’s socially isolated and violent protagonist, Travis Bickle. Alongside some previous nods to the revenge pic “Rolling Thunder,” there are clear signs (such as the film’s title) that Quentin will be taking cues from legendary screenwriter Paul Schrader, who wrote both “Rolling Thunder” and “Taxi Driver.”

However, this doesn’t entirely rule out Tarantino returning to the project in the future as a potential miniseries or television series. You may remember the second film refers to the bloody Japanese samurai film “Shogun Assassin,” a key inspiration for the two volumes that was an adaptation of the “Lone Wolf & Cub” manga that was turned into a string of feature films and also cut-up to be presented in a television series format (“Shogun Assassin” being a blend of these films for the western market). In theory, given that he’s already talked up the idea of pursuing shows like his “Bounty Law” spinoff, it’s possible that “Kill Bill 3” might find a second life as a television project or even get the novelization treatment.

SOURCE: DEMORGAN

Posted on in News

Quentin Tarantino Teases Comedic Spaghetti Western Project That Features A German Sheriff

While Quentin Tarantino is busy writing his second book and trying to get his Bounty Law series made, a spinoff of hit film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, focusing on the Rick Dalton western show. He’s again musing about tackling Kill Bill 3, something he’s been talking about for ages but remains to be seen if it’ll actually be his final feature film (will retire after directing ten films).

While in Italy Tarantino is teasing a new idea.

“But first I want to make a comedy,” the filmmaker told Italian broadcaster Fabio Fazio (via Variety) that he’s got a comedy project he wants to do. However, it’s unclear if this is a project meant for film or television.

Speaking further with Rome Film Festival chief Antonio Monda, Quentin Tarantino teased about a Spaghetti Western (Italian-made western film) that sounds like that might have a role waiting for two-time Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained).

“It’s not like my next movie. It’s a piece of something else that I’m thinking about doing — and I’m not going to describe what it is. But part of this thing, there is supposed to be a Spaghetti Western in it. I’m looking forward to shooting that [thing] because it’s going to be really fun. Because I want to shoot it in the Spaghetti Western style where everybody’s speaking a different language.”

“The Mexican Bandido is an Italian; the hero is an American; the bad sheriff is a German; the Mexican saloon girl is Israeli. And everybody is speaking a different language. And you [the actors] just know: OK, when he’s finished talking then I can talk.”

It’s unclear if he’s referring to the Bounty Law project potentially covering Rick Dalton’s faux Spaghetti Western films from Once Upon A Time In Hollywood such as Nebraska Jim directed by Sergio Corbuuci and Kill Me Now Ringo, Said the Gringo.

Both got mock-up posters for the film’s release.

Corbucci is a very real Italian director who helmed Django, The Great Silence, Navajo Joe, Minnesota Clay (referenced with the salon in Django Unchained), The Mercenary, The Specialists, and Ringo & His Golden Pistol. A filmmaker that obviously influenced his love of the genre alongside Sergio Leone.

However, it’s been assumed that Bounty Law would be more like giving us episodes of the show rather than a continuation of Dalton’s acting career. This might suggest that this germ of an idea might be something completely different altogether.

SOURCE: ROME FILM FESTIVAL & RAI

Posted on in Film News

Quentin Tarantino Wanted An All-Black Cast For His ‘Reservoir Dogs’ Remake; Could End Up Becoming A Stage Play Instead

Not too long ago, Quentin Tarantino revealed that one of the early ideas he was considering for his tenth and final film was a remake of his 1992 hit film Reservoir Dogs, but he abandoned the idea and promised that it wouldn’t end up doing it as he decided against it but mulled over turning it into a novel. 

However, while speaking with CinemaBlend’s Reel Blend Podcast (via The Playlist) the filmmaker dished that the crux of the remake was having a fresh perspective by having an all-black cast and added that he might consider doing it as a stage play instead. 

“I didn’t get that far in it, but I’ve decided that if I wanted to do something like that I would do it more onstage. I think that would be cool, but my thought process was, well, if it’s a strong piece of material, it would work doing it any time, it does seem timeless, and with a new group of actors, it would have a new life and it would have a new life because of the fact that I didn’t really know what the hell I was doing when I did Reservoir Dogs, and now I know what I’m doing a little bit more so that could be interesting. I won’t have the youthful exuberance that I had, but we’ll see how much that accounts for anything,” Tarantino said of remaking the film because of his years of experience being applied to that original idea. 

The filmmaker continued revealing that he wanted to cast black actors, “At the time, I was considering doing it as a movie, making it as an all-Black cast, that would have been my twist on it as far as making it a different movie. Nah, I don’t think I took it that far,” he said when asked about a potential cast for the remake. “I think part of the idea to open up would be just to see who responded to it and figure it out that way.”

Tarantino’s stage play idea isn’t a new thing as when his Hateful Eight script leaked online he cancelled the film, only to do a play version that eventually inspired him to return to the feature film incarnation after having a bunch of much fun dong it live with an audience.

Considering that he didn’t get that far with coming up with ideas for the new cast. I figured I’d come up with my dream cast after re-watching the film and trying to figure out, who would likely work for the characters and also be people that Tarantino would want to work with given their body of work. 

  • Don Cheadle – Mr. White
  • Daniel Kaluuya – Mr. Orange
  • Jamie Foxx – Mr. Blonde
  • Brian Tyree Henry – Mr. Pink
  • Samuel L. Jackson – Joe Cabot
  • Craig Robinson – Nice Guy Eddie
  • Jonathan Majors – Mr. Brown
  • Laurence Fishburne – Mr. Blue
  • Jake Gyllenhaal – Officer Marvin Nash
  • Walton Goggins – Detective Holdaway

I’d also like to see a setting and era switch-up, possibly seeing this crew stealing from Al Capone during the height of the gangster’s empire of crime in Chicago in the 1920s (the 1970s could work too). That would allow Tarantino to make his large scale gangster film just like his directing heroes Brian De Palma (The Untouchables) and Sergio Leone (Once Upon A Time In America).

SOURCE: REEL BLEND PODCAST

Posted on in Film News

Quentin Tarantino Reveals He Was Offered A Chance To Remake Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Westworld’ With A Script From ‘Overlord’s Billy Ray

Quentin Tarantino spoke to The Big Picture Podcast (via The Playlist) to promote his novelization of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. During that chat, the filmmaker revealing that around the time of his Grindhouse double-feature experiment (Death Proof and Planet Terror) flopped at the box office he was offered a couple of IP projects such as DC Comics film Sgt. Rock and Westworld remake that was being written by Billy Ray. The latter would have been Tarantino’s first entry into the sci-fi genre before attempting to get a Star Trek film together with the help of Mark L. Smith (The Revenant).

If you’re not familiar with Westworld, it was an original film that was released back in 1973 and was written/directed by author Michael Crichton, who is best known as the writer of Jurassic Park and The Lost World. It focuses on a futuristic theme park with realistic robots that exist to be killed and screwed by guests, that’s until the robots malfunction and start killing their human guests.

Westworld is a futuristic theme park where paying guests can pretend to be gunslingers in an artificial Wild West populated by androids. After paying a sizable entrance fee, Blane (James Brolin) and Martin (Richard Benjamin) are determined to unwind by hitting the saloons and shooting off their guns. But when the system goes haywire and Blane is killed in a duel with a robotic gunslinger (Yul Brynner), Martin’s escapist fantasy suddenly takes on a grim reality.

The project eventually was remade at HBO as a series from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, it’s heading into it’s fourth season.

Billy Ray is certainly a competent screenwriter with credits such as The Comey Rule, Richard Jewell, Terminator: Dark Fate, Gemini Man, Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games, State of Play, and the Bad Robot WWII horror movie Overlord.

Quentin Tarantino plans on retiring from feature film directing after making his 10th movie, but has yet to announce that will be and has working on a Bounty Law mini-series that will likely be next for him.

SOURCE: THE BIG PICTURE PODCAST

Posted on in Film News

Quentin Tarantino Ponders Making A Faithful Adaptation Of ‘First Blood’ With Adam Driver As Rambo & Kurt Russell As Sheriff Teasle

Director Quentin Tarantino is on a book tour meeting and speaking with multiple outlets, this means he’s talking-up a bunch of hypothetical projects and ideas that normally he’d keep to himself or wait until there was a film to promote.

While chatting with The Big Picture Podcast (via The Playlist), the filmmaker brought up the idea of making a more commercial viable film by doing a faithful adaptation of the David Morrell novel First Blood, the book published in 1972 was developed into a starring vehicle for Sly Stallone in 1982 and led to four sequels.

“I would do the novel. And Kurt Russell would play the sheriff, and [Adam Driver] would play Rambo. Every time I read [the novel], the dialogue is so fantastic…[The film] would be so good,” Tarantino told the podcast about his ideas for a remake and who should take lead roles.

First came the man: a young wanderer in a fatigue coat and long hair. Then came the legend, as John Rambo sprang from the pages of FIRST BLOOD to take his place in the American cultural landscape. This remarkable novel pits a young Vietnam veteran against a small-town cop who doesn’t know whom he’s dealing with — or how far Rambo will take him into a life-and-death struggle through the woods, hills, and caves of rural Kentucky.

The idea is based on if he hadn’t planned on retiring after making his 10th feature film, so even if it’s neat idea, it’s unlikely going to happen. First Blood is considered the best of the Rambo movies as it the most coherent film, but wasn’t as faithful as some might imagine.

It’s a little curious why he’s bringing up First Blood, as there is indeed a Rambo remake in the works called Rambo: New Blood from Millennium Films. The remake reportedly had Brooks McLaren attached to pen the script and Ariel Vromen (The Iceman, Criminal) to direct, but there hasn’t been much of an update since 2016, so it’s unlikely that incarnation is going to happen.

Back in 2015, Stallone suggested in an interview during the press rounds for Creed that Canadian actor Ryan Gosling take the John Rambo mantle.

Author/creator David Morrell took to Twitter during the release of the critically panned Rambo: Last Blood and said he was embarrassed by it. Stallone had announced his retirement of the character not too long ago and it’s not like a remake would be stepping on his toes with a remake.

SOURCE: THE BIG PICTURE PODCAST

Posted on in Film News

Quentin Tarantino Says He Was Offered A ‘Sgt. Rock’ Movie That Had A “Magnificent” Script From ‘Blade Runner’ Screenwriter David Webb Peoples

Warner Bros. has been trying since 1980s to make a feature film based on the WWII era DC Comics hero Sgt. Rock, producer Joel Silver famously tried to get an incarnation starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and if you look closely at the end credits of Predator, you can see cast members like Shane Black holding copies of Sgt. Rock.

Well, it sounds like one incarnation almost had a script from screenwriter David Webb Peoples (Blade Runner, Unforgiving, 12 Monkeys, Leviathan, Soldier) and his “magnificent” script almost convinced Quentin Tarantino get involved as he was offered it by the studio. Tarantino briefly mentioned the potential comic book film during a chat on The Big Picture podcast (via The Playlist).

“There’s a really good script that David Webb Peoples wrote for Sgt. Rock that I still think about doing that from time to time. I don’t think I will, but I think it’s a really magnificent script and I would do a good job with,” Tarantino told The Big Picture.

It’s been well established that the director is a huge comic book guy.

Quentin Tarantino has mulled over the idea of making a comic book project over the years, in the 1990s, he wanted to make a Luke Cage movie starring Laurence Fishburne and had been once offered another DC Comics property Green Lantern.

He was previously upfront that Marvel’s Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos was a huge influence on the Oscar-winning film Inglourious Basterds and there were a handful of Marvel Comics homages in Reservoir Dogs.

“A big influence on the Basterds was Marvel Comics’ Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos. That was definitely an influence on that flick,” the filmmaker told MTV News back in 2009.

There seems to be further nods in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood with Rick Dalton’s WWII action film The 14 Fists of McCluskey, as his character wore an eye-patch a possible wink to Nick Fury and there were Sgt. Fury/Kid Colt comics in Cliff Booth’s trailer.

SOURCE: THE BIG PICTURE PODCAST