This will probably be the last piece I’ll write concerning Quentin Tarantino’s extensive career-spanning interview with The Church of Tarantino podcast.
Just last week, I shot down reports suggesting Tarantino might begin shooting that much-hyped final project before year’s end. I wrote, not so fast, my source told me QT hadn’t even started writing the screenplay.
Speaking on the podcast, the 61-year-old filmmaker revealed that his next project won’t be a film at all, but a stage play, and it’s coming sooner than anyone expected.
“Oh, the play is all written. It is absolutely the next thing I’m going to do,” Tarantino said. “We’ll start the ball rolling on it in January. Because I just figure it’s like the first of the year.”
The director added that the play is likely to consume the next couple of years of his life, effectively pushing back work on his tenth film. “It’s probably going to take up a year and a half to two years of my life,” he explained. “If it’s a success and I got to do the tour version of it… I’m preparing for it to be a success. If it’s a flop, then I’ll be done very quickly. But even starting from scratch, it’ll probably be a year before it’s in front of an audience.”
Tarantino didn’t disclose any details about the play’s subject matter or potential cast, though he confirmed he plans to stage it in London’s West End. Given his cult-like following among actors, don’t be surprised if his regular troupe fight to be part of this experiment.
What this means for Tarantino’s final film is still unclear. He seems in no rush to make it happen. Between family life, fatherhood, and now theater, QT appears content to let cinema wait.
For years now, Quentin Tarantino has insisted that his tenth film would be his last. The director of “Pulp Fiction,” “Inglourious Basterds,” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” has been teasing the swan song for almost a decade. Whether that means we’ll ever actually see a tenth Tarantino film, though, is anyone’s guess.