For many years, Quentin Tarantino has promised he’ll retire after he directs his tenth feature film. And he’s already working on it, although production on “The Film Critic” will delayed as long as the SAG-AFTRA guild strike continues. But how do other filmmakers, mainly ones older than QT, think about the auteur’s plans to call it quits? IndieWire reports (via the Associated Press) that Martin Scorsese weighed in on the matter in a new interview. And while Scorsese appreciates Tarantino’s position, he also recognizes it’s not his.
“He’s a writer. It’s a different thing,” Scorsese commented. “I come up with stories. I get attracted to stories through other people. All different means, different ways. And so I think it’s a different process…I respect writers and I wish I could. I wish I could just be in a room and create these novels, not films, novels.”
“I’m curious about everything still,” Scorsese continued. “That’s one of the things. If I’m curious about something I think I’ll find a way. If I hold out and hold up, I’ll find a way to try to make something of it on film, but I have to be curious about the subject. My curiosity is still there. I couldn’t speak for Quentin Tarantino or others who are able to create this work in their world.”
On his press tour for “Killers Of The Flower Moon,” the 80-year-old Scorsese hinted he’ll continue to make films as he can, hoping to make one or two more films before he retires. “If I could just muster up the energy, God willing, to make a couple more, one more maybe, and that’s it, OK?,” the director told GQ earlier this year. “That’s as far as I got. You keep going until you can’t.”
“But what I mean is that you gotta rip it out of your skull and your guts,” Scorsese elaborated. “To find out what the hell you really…what do you really feel should be said at this point in life by you? You gotta say something with a movie. Otherwise, what’s the point of making it? You’ve got to be saying something. How much longer can it be me? I’m gonna be 81. I’m gonna try until they pick me up off the floor.”
Meanwhile, Tarantino wants to say his piece and then be done with filmmaking for good. But how do other filmmakers feel about QT’s decision to retire after “The Film Critic”? While Christopher Nolan sympathizes with Tarantino’s position to retire before he loses his spark, he finds moviemaking too “addictive” to let go of. “The truth is, I understand both points of view. It’s addictive to tell stories in cinema,” Nolan told ReelBlend. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s very fun. It’s something you feel driven to do, and so it’s a little hard to imagine voluntarily stopping.”
Nolan continued. “But I also see… Quentin’s point has always been that — and he never, very graciously, he’s never specific about the films he’s talking about or whatever — but he’s looking at some of the work done by filmmakers in later years and feeling that if it can’t live up to the heyday, it would be better if it didn’t exist,” Nolan continued. “That’s a very purist point of view. It’s the point of view of a cinephile who prizes film history.”
Meanwhile, P.T. Anderson chimed in on Tarantino’s decision in 2018. “I know Quentin likes to say, ‘I’m making 10 movies and then I’m quitting.’ But I could never do that,” said the director. “I don’t know how he could say that, or how he could take himself seriously when he says that. This is what I want to do as long as I’m able to do it. As long as I’m able to do it, I’m going to do it. I think things can become peculiar when directors don’t act their age maybe, or seeing them try to keep up with the kids or trying to be hip. That’s never a good look.”
So will Tarantino retire after he makes “The Film Critic”? That remains to be seen, since the film’s development remain on hold currently and QT is notorious for shifting plans and projects around. But maybe Tarantino really wants to settle down after ten films and write all of the film criticism he can churn out. That’s still creativity, and a movie legend still utilizing his breadth of knowledge in his singular way. It may not be filmmaking, but maybe it’ll be enough for Tarantino.
