Quentin Tarantino Once Named the 1 Director He Felt Didn’t Get Worse in His Old Age
Quentin Tarantino hopes to avoid getting worse at making films before he retires. The Django Unchained director believes that many filmmakers experience a drop in skill after reaching a certain age, which is a fate he hopes to avoid.
But there is one filmmaker he felt avoided this trap.
Why Quentin Tarantino doesn’t want to make moves in his old age
As many know, Tarantino has made a vow to only make 10 movies in his career. Although there might be some slight wriggle room for a few more films under his belt, for now 10 is still the stopping point. One of his reasons for this decision is because he feels directors’ filmmaking abilities decline after growing past a certain age. And the Death Proof director doesn’t want that to happen to him to keep his legacy intact.
“I don’t want to be an old director,” he once said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “A lot of the [70s] movie brats have gotten old and it shows in their work, and I don’t want that. I’m not picking on them – in the 100 years of cinema, directors just don’t get better as they get older. I really do think directing is a young man’s game.”
Tarantino believed the reason for this was because directors’ storytelling instincts changed as they aged. So for the sake of his filmography, Tarantino believed it would be best to retire at the age of 60.
“I won’t be making movies, that’s for sure,” he said about reaching that age. “I want to get some movie theaters – I’m kind of a frustrated theater owner anyway. And I want to have a good life and let the filmography stand on its own. I don’t want to be some old guy pitching f****** scripts.”
The 1 director Quentin Tarantino believed didn’t experience a decline in their old age
Tarantino once believed that late filmmaker Stanley Kubrick was the only director who was able to make quality films well into his old age. In a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone, the Pulp Fiction writer shared his theory as to why The Shinning director never lost a step.
“And I’m not even the hugest Kubrick fan. But his s*** didn’t get old. And I think the reason he was so vital was because he didn’t make a movie every two years. He made them when they mattered to him,” he said.
This was what distinguished Tarantino from other filmmakers he might have admired.
“That’s the problem I see with directors from the Seventies. You have those first twenty years that are pretty f*** rock & roll. And then you have the second twenty years, when they’re making excuses, making a lot of apologies for a lot of their work. And I never want that. I want the movies I do at the end of my life to be as good as the movies I did at the beginning of my life.”
Quentin Tarantino briefly considered ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ being his last film
As Tarantino’s ninth film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has received much praise from both critics and audiences. Apart from being a commercial success, it also earned an Oscar-nomination for Best Picture. Given the movie’s list of accomplishments, Tarantino was asked why not end his filmography with Once Upon a Time.
“Well, um, if it’s really well received, maybe I won’t go to 10. Maybe I’ll stop right now! Maybe I’ll stop while I’m ahead. We’ll see,” Tarantino said in an interview GQ.
Although it seems doubtful the filmmaker has called it quits after his ninth film. But according to Variety, Tarantino had no idea what his final film would when he was asked about it at the Rome Film Festival.
