The Hollywood Reporterhas announced that Quentin Tarantino is working on what is rumored to be his final movie, and it sounds like it could be a sequel – at least a spiritual sequel but possibly a direct sequel – toOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood.The Movie Criticis a new script that Tarantino is ready to start shopping around the studios with the intention of shooting it this fall. Given thatThe Movie Critictakes place in the same city, industry, and time period asOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, it’s easy to assume there’s a narrative link between the two.
Since Tarantino has stated multiple times throughout his career that he plans to retire after making 10 movies,The Movie Criticis being reported as his final movie. IfKill Billcounts as one film andmovies that Tarantino wrote but didn’t directlikeTrue RomanceandNatural Born Killersdon’t count as true Tarantino movies, then the current total is nine and there’s one left to go before retirement. The plot details that have been released so far seem to suggest that Tarantino’s 10th and final movie will be a sequel to his ninth film,Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
RELATED:Quentin Tarantino Already Made The Perfect Final Movie
Per theTHRreport,The Movie Criticis set in Los Angeles in the 1970s and revolves around a female lead. Based on these scarce story details,The Movie Criticis speculated to be a biopic of Tarantino’s favorite film reviewer, Pauline Kael. Kael isone of Tarantino’s biggest influences. Her blunt, biting, highly opinionated reviews made her one of the most renowned and respected movie critics of all time. Her relationships with her editors and the filmmakers she critiqued would make a great basis for a movie. There’s something poetic about Tarantino ending his filmmaking career with a love letter to the critic who has kept him engaged with film discussion throughout his entire life.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodcharted the demise of the “Old Hollywood” era ahead of the “New Hollywood” movement of the ‘70s in whichauteurs like Martin Scorseseand Peter Bogdanovich revolutionized American cinema by upending filmmaking traditions with the experimental visual language of foreign cinema. The Manson massacre is considered to be a watershed moment that marked the switch from the glitz and glamor of Old Hollywood to the grit and grimness of New Hollywood.The Movie Criticmight explore how the New Hollywood era would have panned out differently if the Manson murders had been foiled by a has-been actor and his badass stunt double.
If it is indeed a sequel,The Movie Criticcould explore how foiling the Manson murders and befriending a still-alive Sharon Tate reinvigorated Rick Dalton’s career. Telling this story through the eyes of a contemporary film critic is a unique spin that would set the sequel apart from its predecessor. Kael was an early champion of directors like Sam Peckinpah andBrian De Palma, who rank among Tarantino’s favorite filmmakers. In the Tarantino-verse, Kael might have been an early champion of Rick who followed his career closely fromBounty LawtoThe 14 Fists of McCluskeytoNebraska JimtoJigsaw Jane.
If Leonardo DiCaprio is willing to reprise the role of Rick,The Movie Criticcould revolve around Kael profiling the TV cowboy-turned-movie star and reflecting on the events ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. According toDen of Geek, Tarantino has said that he intends to make his final film more “epilogue-y” than the sprawling, ambitious epic ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. When Tarantino first made this statement, his final movie was expected to be small-scale likeReservoir Dogsormature and intimate likeJackie Brownin stark contrast to the flashy, action-packed epics his last few films have been. But perhaps he meant that literally and plans to end his career with an actual cinematic epilogue to his own statement on the film industry.
Kill Bill: Volume 2notwithstanding, Tarantino has never made a sequel before.The Hateful Eightbegan its life as a sequel toDjango Unchained, but it ended up morphing into an original story. From a Vega Brothers spin-off toKill Bill: Volume 3, Tarantino has previously toyed with the idea of revisiting previous characters and storylines. He’s already demonstrated a particular affection forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodwith its best-selling novelization and teases of a four-hour director’s cut, a season ofBounty Law, and a book about Rick’s career. If he was going to make a sequel to any of his movies, it would probably beOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Tarantino expanded the world ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodin its novelization. The alternate Hollywood conjured up by Tarantino could be a springboard into countless stories – it’s just as rich and fully realized a fictional universe as Westeros or Middle-earth. It makes sense to revisit that world in his next film.Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodwould’ve been a perfect final movie; as long asTarantino is committed to making one more, it would be wise to make his actual final movie an extension of that. WhereasOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood’s ‘60s setting featured cameos by Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee, and James Stacy,The Movie Critic’s ‘70s setting could feature cameos from Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and Francis Ford Coppola.
