Christopher Nolan respects Quentin Tarantino’s decision to retire after 10(ish) films

Christopher Nolan understands Quentin Tarantino’s impulse to retire – but also respects filmmakers who continue to make art well into their old age.

The “Oppenheimer” filmmaker recently told Cinema Blend he understands “both points of view” in the discussion of impact versus longevity. “It’s addictive to tell stories in cinema. It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s very fun. It’s something you feel driven to do, and so it’s a little hard to imagine voluntarily stopping,” he said.

But, Nolan added, Tarantino’s long-discussed plans to retire after his 10th(ish) film make sense. 

“Quentin’s point has always been that — and he never, very graciously, he’s never specific about the films he’s talking about or whatever — but he’s looking at some of the work done by filmmakers in later years and feeling that if it can’t live up to the heyday, it would be better if it didn’t exist,” he added. “And I think that’s a very purist point of view. It’s the point of view of a cinephile who prizes film history.”

Tarantino has said his 10th film – the upcoming project “The Movie Critic” – will be his final theatrical release. (To be fair, Tarantino has technically already directed 10 movies: “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown,” “Kill Bill: Volume 1,” “Kill Bill: Volume 2,” “Death Proof,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Django Unchained,” “The Hateful Eight,” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” But he counts “Kill Bill” as one feature.) But the filmmaker told Deadline this year that just because he was closing the book on his directing career didn’t mean he would no longer work.

“I could do a TV show. I didn’t say I’m going to go into the night darkly, all right? I could do a TV show. I could do a short film. I could do a play. All kinds of things I could do, but I’ll probably just be more of a writer,” he said about the terms of his self-imposed retirement. “I am ending the filmography.”

Asked to explain why, Tarantino said it was just time. “I like the idea of going out on top. I like the idea of giving it my all for 30 years and then saying, ‘OK, that’s enough.’ And I don’t like working to diminishing returns,” he said. “And I mean, now is a good time because I mean, what even is a motion picture anyway anymore? Is it just something that they show on Apple? That would be diminishing returns.”

In that same interview, Tarantino said he viewed films made strictly for streaming services with skepticism. “I’m probably going to be doing the movie with Sony because they’re the last game in town that is just absolutely, utterly, committed to the theatrical experience. It’s not about feeding their streaming network. They are committed to theatrical experience. They judge success by asses on seats. And they judge success by the movies entering the zeitgeist, not just making a big expensive movie and then putting it on your streaming platform. No one even knows it’s there,” he said.

Tarantino was supposed to start shooting “The Movie Critic” this fall.

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