Quentin Tarantino does not owe you another movie

The great Quentin Tarantino once again became the talk of the internet when it was announced that his upcoming movie, The Movie Critic, was cancelled and that he will instead find another project to be his 10th and final film.

Twitter was full of comments from movie fans who were, like me, disappointed. And they were full of what I can only describe as fannish nonsense.

The first line of attack was on the idea that Tarantino has said for years that he would stop at 10 films and retire as a movie director. Tarantino has already written one (very good) book of film criticism and he has also joked that he could always direct a limited series for television.

This collection of wit and wisdom came from a number of people, famous, infamous and somewhere in between. I have paraphrased a general collection of this:

“You don’t have to follow a stupid rule you made up.”

“Martin, Steven and Ridley are still making bangers in their 80s!”

“He psyched himself out because it’s his last movie but he doesn’t have to stop. He could make 10 more after this.”

These are the bleatings of incredibly entitled and incredibly boorish fans.

Writer Neil Gaiman said all this better than me when answering a fan question about George R.R. Martin’s final novels in the Song of Fire and Ice series: “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.”

Pretty simple right?

Tarantino made a bunch of movies you like and he’s maybe going to make one more but after working toward getting The Movie Critic together he decided (for some unknown reason) that this wasn’t it.

Be sad about that? Sure. Join me in the traditional rending of garments and sitting in ashes. I weep with you that we shall probably not get a new Tarantino next year.

Go online and whine that a guy who can do anything he wants with his life is choosing to do something else? How about no. Be better than that.

Also, suggesting that Tarantino psyched himself out is pitiful stuff. You don’t know why he does anything anymore than I do. Maybe an actor he wanted turned it down. Maybe he looked at the script again and saw something he couldn’t fix on set. Maybe a trusted reader looked at it and felt it wasn’t there and Tarantino got spooked.

Maybe he wants to summer in France. Maybe he wants to catch up on The Simpsons.

Quentin Tarantino does not owe you a movie and he can do what he wants with his life.

Longtime Tarantino fans ought to know better. There was supposed to be a movie about the Vega brothers (which would have existed in the same universe as his early movies). And he talked a lot about Kill Bill 3 which would center on the daughter of one of The Bride’s victims.

And, ultimately, we got bupkis.

That’s the way it goes creatively. Having a cool idea is not the same thing and making a multi-million dollar movie. We all have cool ideas, few of us can successfully turn them into novels, tv shows, or movies.

Finally, this idea that Tarantino imposing a 10 movie rule on himself is a bad idea comes from people with no skin in the game who have not considered the full ramifications of a creative life.

The idea seems to be, “Just keep making them and everything will be fine.”

Except, that’s absolutely not true. Directors and writers get thrown out of the business or thrown into director jail all the time.

Ask Coppola about life after Godfather Part 3. That’s a perfect example of a movie everyone thought they wanted until it actually came out.

Brian DePalma, one of the greats, was out after his flops in the 1990s. Same goes for William Friedkin.

And, today, it can happen not because of a flop but simply because the vocal online audience turns on someone. I’ll be interested to see if Taika Waititi gets another shot at a big Hollywood production.

Same goes for the Game of Thrones producers who delivered an (admittedly) bad final season of a great show and are now permanently shunned.

You are only as good as your last one. And all of these “fans” who are upset that Tarantino isn’t delivering the next thrillotainment will toss him to the wolves the very second he screens a dog instead of classic.

Hey, I would take 10 more Tarantino movies too. But I hope I have enough respect for the man and the process to live with whatever he decides to do with his one life.