Quentin Tarantino, surely one the most important and beloved directors of his generation, says he’s keeping his long-stated promise to retire after his 10th and final movie.
While plugging his new paperback novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood on Real Time with Bill Maher on June 25, Tarantino confirmed that he’s planning to retire after making his tenth and final film, even as Maher urged him to keep making movies.
“You’re too young to quit and you’re at the top of your game,” Maher said.
“That’s why I want to quit,” Tarantino shot back over a cheering audience. “Because I know film history and from here on end, directors do not get better.”
Maher claimed that Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was the director’s “best” film to date–something that QT fanatics partial to the likes of Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds or Django Unchained may take issue with–but Hollywood earned rave reviews along with 10 Academy Award nominations and won a best picture Golden Globe.
“I don’t have a reason that I would want to say out loud that’s going to win any argument in the court of public opinion or supreme court or anything like that,” Tarantino responded.
“At the same time, working for 30 years doing as many movies as I’ve done is not as many as other people but that’s a long career. That’s a really long career. And I’ve given it everything I have.”
Tarantino–who has previously toyed with directing a Star Wars movie, a James Bond movie, and other never-realized projects–also made news by saying that he considered remaking his 1992 feature debut, Reservoir Dogs, as his final film.
“I won’t do it, internet! But I considered it,” Tarantino laughed.
Watch the full interview segment here.
