A lot of younger people now believe that Quentin Tarantino is “cringe” or a “has-been” or something. Like, he’s no longer cool, and they also believe that he isn’t leaving behind much of a legacy. It’s weird because even though Tarantino has had problematic moments, he’s absolutely one of the greatest auteurs of all time and someone who fundamentally changed Hollywood and filmmaking. I even believe that QT and Paul Thomas Anderson are probably the two greatest American auteurs of the past fifty years. Anyway, one of the most random-ass things QT has ever done is promise to only make ten films and then retire. It’s become some kind of mental block for him, now that he can only make one more movie before he’s “done.” Instead of just saying “you know what, I changed my mind, I’m going to keep working,” Tarantino is backtracking from even wanting to make his tenth film, The Movie Critic. He backtracked in a lengthy interview with The Church of Tarantino podcast, and he also named which of HIS films he thinks are his best.
Even Quentin Tarantino has a favorite Tarantino movie. During an expansive interview on “The Church of Tarantino” podcast, the two-time Oscar winner revealed which of his films is his favorite and which he thinks is his best.
“‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ is my favorite, ‘Inglourious Basterds’ is my best,” Tarantino said. “But I think ‘Kill Bill’ is the ultimate Quentin movie, like nobody else could’ve made it. Every aspect about it is so particularly ripped, like with tentacles and bloody tissue, from my imagination and my id and my loves and my passion and my obsession. So I think ‘Kill Bill’ is the movie I was born to make, I think ‘Inglourious Basterds’ is my masterpiece, but ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ is my favorite.”
The “Pulp Fiction” director then picked his favorite and best from his screenplays.
“I think ‘Inglourious Basterds’ is my best script, and I think ‘Hateful Eight’ and ‘Once Upon a Time In Hollywood’ are right behind,” he explained. “But, there’s an aspect of ‘Hateful Eight’ that I actually think is probably my best directing of my material, i.e., the material is written and it’s solid. So it’s not like I have to create it, like ‘Kill Bill,’ it’s solid, it’s right there and I actually think it’s my best servicing [of] my material as a director.”
Despite Tarantino’s affinity for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” David Fincher will direct the highly anticipated sequel, “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” for Netflix. Elsewhere in the interview, Tarantino said he passed on directing the project because the idea of his 10th and final film being a sequel “unenthused” him. “I love this script, but I’m still walking down the same ground I’ve already walked,” Tarantino said. “It just kind of unenthused me. This last movie, I’ve got to not know what I’m doing again. I’ve got to be in uncharted territory.”
Tarantino also discussed his long-rumored 10th and final film, “The Movie Critic.” He said the project was ultimately scrapped because it was too similar to his previous work.
“I wasn’t really excited about dramatizing what I wrote when I was in pre-production, partly because I’m using the skillset that I learned from ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ [of] ‘How are we going to turn Los Angeles into the Hollywood of 1969 without using CGI?’” he explained. “It was something we had to pull off. We had to achieve it. It wasn’t for sure that we could do it. … ‘The Movie Critic,’ there was nothing to figure out. I already kind of knew, more or less, how to turn L.A. into an older time. It was too much like the last one.”
It’s weird that even Tarantino has recency bias, because how in the hell does he think that Inglourious Basterds, Hateful Eight and OUATIH are his best scripts??? How does Pulp Fiction not even make his top three scripts? I also don’t think IB is his best film or his masterpiece – looking back, I actually think Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 are his masterpieces and they show a master director in full flight. And I actually kind of hated the Inglorious Basterds script? The only thing I liked about it was that it was Tarantino doing the most Tarantino thing ever for his one World War II movie. It also felt like he should have really developed the French storyline with Melanie Laurent’s character. Anyway, I hope one of the older directors – Steven Spielberg? Ridley Scott? Martin Scorsese? – talks some sense into him and tells him that he needs to let go of this dumb “I can only make ten movies” thing.
PS… Justice for Jackie Brown, which I would argue is Tarantino’s most underrated film and it’s the only time he adapted a book (which he did really well, capturing the nuances of Elmore Leonard’s text). It was the only time he had a Black female lead too.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
