Tarantino on quitting: "I don't want to become this old man who's out of touch"

As we noted earlier this week, Quentin Tarantino seems to be very busy at the moment not making movies, instead filling his days with writing books, making press appearances about the books he’s written, and making big sweeping statements about the state of the film industry while doing press appearances about the books he’s written. (He’s also making a TV show.)

Partly, this is because Quentin Tarantino is a man who loves to talk shit, but there’s also the looming fact that he’s said, on multiple occasions, that when he does make another movie (his tenth), it’ll be his last. As part of one of those ongoing press junket bits, CNN’s Chris Wallace asked Tarantino why he’s so adamant about quitting, given that he’s still enjoying pretty widespread success. (His most recent film, Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood, won Oscars, is the second-highest box office performer of his career, and, by his own estimation, is Tarantino’s best film.)

“It’s time to wrap up the show,” Tarantino asserted in response. “I don’t want to work to diminishing returns.” Alluding to his recent comments about Marvel films and the current era of filmmaking, he also stated that “I don’t want to become this old man who’s out of touch…when already, I’m feeling a bit like an old man who’s out of touch with the current movies that are out right now. And that’s what happens, that’s exactly what happens.”

Also also: Tarantino has no idea what the hell his next movie will be at this point, or even “what a movie is” right now. “Is that something that plays on Netflix? Is that something that plays on Amazon, and people watch it on their couch?” The implication here is that Tarantino, a theater purist who has gone to great lengths to give movies like The Hateful Eight prestige theatrical runs, is in no rush to have his final film premiere on somebody’s phone while they’re on the toilet.