©Courtesy of “Kill Bill Vol.1” 

Quentin Tarantino has offered an explanation about why he scrapped plans to make The Movie Critic, a film he had been working on for several years. In April of 2024, Tarantino abandoned the project, which was scheduled to shoot earlier this year.  Ir would have been his tenth–and purportedly final–directorial effort.

In a recent appearance on The Church of Tarantino podcast, the filmmaker revealed that he originally wanted The Movie Critic to be an eight-episode television show.

“And it just kind of unenthused me as we went forward,” he declared, :until I finally just pulled the plug. This last movie, I’ve got to not know what I’m doing again. I’ve got to be in uncharted territory and have an idea how I’m going to pull it off, but not really know. And there has to be something to achieve.”

Tarantino said The Movie Critic was set in 1977 California, “based on a guy who really lived but was never really famous, and he used to write movie reviews for a porno rag.”
Speaking further about his decision to abandon the project, he explained: “Every Tarantino title promises so much, except The Movie Critic. Who wants to see a TV show about a fucking movie critic? Who wants to see a movie called The Movie Critic? If I can actually make a movie or a TV show about somebody who watches movies interesting, that is an accomplishment.”

Tarantino then rewrote it as a movie script, while squelching rumors that he was considering including the character of Cliff Booth (played by Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).

“That was never the case, ever ever ever,” Tarantino emphasized.

However, Tarantino did write a script for Netflix entitled The Adventures of Cliff Booth, which he is producing. That project is currently being directed by David Fincher.

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