Quentin Tarantino has completed a screenplay intended for his tenth feature film, but the Oscar-winning filmmaker said he is postponing any production work to focus on his upcoming stage production and his personal life.
Tarantino shared the update during an appearance on the British talk program “The Graham Norton Show,” his first visit to the broadcast in more than ten years, Variety reported. The director sat alongside guests Ellen DeGeneres, Colin Farrell and Gemma Chan as he discussed what lies ahead for his career following years of pledges that he would retire after directing 10 movies.
“I’ve written a script that I really like,” Tarantino said on the program, according to Variety. However, he stressed that cameras will not be rolling anytime soon. “I want to do the play and see who I am; then I’ll then go back and spend time with my family and live a little and then see what I want to do,” he told the host.
West End production takes priority
Rather than jumping straight to the movie set, Tarantino is directing his creative energy toward London’s theater district. His new production, titled “The Popinjay Cavalier,” will star actor Sacha Baron Cohen and is scheduled to open at London’s Phoenix Theatre in March, following preview performances set to begin in late February.
The stage run is slated to last for three months and conclude on June 13. Tarantino explained on the talk show that the story was originally drafted as a movie screenplay before he realized the material lent itself far better to the stage, calling the result a swashbuckling comedy with elements of French farce, Far Out Magazine reported.
The decision to hold off on filming comes after Tarantino abandoned an earlier concept for his final movie. He had spent substantial time developing a project titled “The Movie Critic,” but he eventually chose to scrap the production, leaving the path to his milestone tenth film temporarily unresolved.
Expanding his film universe
Tarantino has not directed a movie since his ninth feature, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” arrived in theaters in 2019. That release earned widespread critical acclaim and garnered multiple Academy Awards, including an Oscar for Brad Pitt as best supporting actor, while Tarantino earned nominations for best picture and best director.
Although Tarantino is holding back from the director’s chair, his writing will soon return to screens. Tarantino penned a screenplay that revisits Cliff Booth, the stuntman character portrayed by Pitt in the 2019 film. The spinoff project, titled “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” was directed by David Fincher rather than Tarantino, Collider reported.
That film is slated for a limited rollout in IMAX theaters this November prior to its international debut on Netflix in December, according to Collider.
What remains unknown is the subject matter, title and timeline of Tarantino’s newly completed screenplay, as the director did not disclose plot specifics or casting ideas. Whether this specific script will actually become the tenth and final movie of his directorial career will likely remain unanswered until his theatrical run in London ends next summer.
