We’ve gone through a lot since Quentin Tarantino announced The Hateful Eight, canceled it in a fit after the script got leaked, thought about writing a book instead, and then brought it back to life. He’s been promoting the hell out of the film ever since, even though nothing has been shot yet. There is plenty of talk about a 70mm epic that is going to take on digital and remind people about the glory of film, so that’s enough for some.
Pretty powerful stuff and some great hype, even if it wasn’t needed. I think moviegoers will see a Tarantino film no matter the circumstances (maybe not a snuff film). The only problem is that he might not be making many more after The Hateful Eight. Deadline is reporting that Tarantino is debating his retirement after making his tenth film. He dropped that chunk on the stage at a Q&A for the buyers at the American Film Market:
“I don’t believe you should stay on stage until people are begging you to get off,” he said. “I like the idea of leaving them wanting a bit more. I do think directing is a young man’s game and I like the idea of an umbilical cord connection from my first to my last movie. I’m not trying to ridicule anyone who thinks differently, but I want to go out while I’m still hard…I like that I will leave a ten-film filmography, and so I’ve got two more to go after this. It’s not etched in stone, but that is the plan. If I get to the tenth, do a good job and don’t screw it up, well that sounds like a good way to end the old career. If, later on, I come across a good movie, I won’t not do it just because I said I wouldn’t. But ten and done, leaving them wanting more, that sounds right.” (via)
Book it! He’s wrapping it up! Start chiming the bells for the end of an era! Start warming up those think pieces and retrospectives now so they’ll be ready when he’s done. Can’t be long, right?
Is Tarantino really going to retire? F*ck no. He wasn’t going to make The Hateful Eight either and look what that got us. He’s preparing an epic and he’s got the cast to prove it. Also he’s one of a few people who are fighting against digital filmmaking. Do you think he’s going to give that up? This can’t be his Grand Moff Tarkin moment:
“I know this business has gone digital, even more in foreign countries than in America where it’s 90%,” he added. “Digital presentation is just television in public, we’re all just getting together and watching TV without pointing the remote control at the screen. I have worked 20 years, too long to accept the diminishing results of having it come into theaters with the quality of a f*cking DVD, shot with the same sh*t they shoot soap operas with. It’s just not good enough for me.”
Aiming to create the kind of road show production from big spectacles from the 1960s, where movies would screen in big theaters and opera houses like an event, Tarantino lays out the release plan for “The Hateful Eight.” “We’re doing this 70 mm, and we are trying to create an event,” Tarantino explained. “I need to know from all of you if this can last a month in your territory in that format, or two weeks. Then we roll it out in 35 and eventually digital. We’re not doing the usual 70 mm, where you shoot 35 mm and blow it up. We’re shooting 65 mm which, when you turn it into a print, is 70mm. Panavision is not only behind this movie, they look at it as a legacy.”(via)
It’s his moment of triumph. Michael Bay isn’t going to find his exhaust port any time soon, so there’s no way he’s retiring after a few more movies. I’ll be shocked if he even tops when he dies, just releasing a movie a year like Tupac does with albums. You’ll see him directing via one of those beeping chairs from Star Trek.
Stop getting people riled up and just make this movie. You’ve got my attention, now give me that satisfaction.
(Via Deadline / Empire / IndieWire / Slash Film)
