Quentin Tarantino is a master director with an encyclopedic knowledge of film. Tarantino XX 10-Disc is arriving on Blu-ray on November 20, and his latest opus, Django Unchained, arrives in theates on Christmas Day. In a recent interview, the filmmaker revealed that he is contemplating retirement, and it may be sooner than many fans would like to hear.
Tarantino was interviewed by Playboy, and this is what he had to say:
I just don’t want to be an old-man filmmaker. I want to stop at a certain point. Directors don’t get better as they get older. Usually the worst films in their filmography are those last four at the end. I am all about my filmography, and one bad film f*cks up three good ones … When directors get out-of-date, it’s not pretty.
I’m on a journey that needs to have an end and not be about me trying to get another job. I want this artistic journey to have a climax. I want to work toward something. You stop when you stop, but in a fanciful world, 10 movies in my filmography would be nice. I’ve made seven. If I have a change of heart, if I come up with a new story, I could come back. But if I stop at 10, that would be okay as an artistic statement.
Each of Tarantino's films make a statement, and have a climax. His films are also very personal, so it makes sense he would want to end his career in the same manner.
Tarantino then went on to talk about his casting process, and how he cast Django Unchained.
I met six different actors and had extensive meetings with all of them, and I went in-depth on all of their work,” Tarantino tells Playboy (in the issue that will be on stands Nov. 20). “Idris Elba, Chris Tucker, Terrence Howard, M.K. Williams [from HBO's Boardwalk Empire], Tyrese. They all appreciated the material, and I was going to put them through the paces, make them go off against one another and kind of put up an obstacle course. And then I met Jamie and realized I didn’t need to do that.” So what was it about Foxx that led Tarantino to cast him? “He was the cowboy… Forget the fact that he has his own horse — and that is actually his horse in the movie. He’s from Texas; he understands. …He understood what it’s like to be thought of as an ‘other.’”
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