Quentin Tarantino Discusses Whether An R-Rated ‘Star Trek’ Will Be His Last Film

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For the better part of my lifetime, Quentin Tarantino has long been pushing the narrative that he only intends on making 10 films before retiring. Now, with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood being his ninth, the question has come up more than ever.

More times than not, Tarantino’s answer remains the same: the legendary director still only plans on doing 10 movies, and the tenth might not even be an original idea, as he’s been rumored to want to make his own R-Rated version of Star Trek.

However, the generation-defining director seems to be slightly changing his tune, as he revealed in a recent interview with Cinema Blend’s ReelBlend podcast that a “loophole” may allow him to direct an R-Rated Star Trek film while still being able to close his career with a QT original.

“I guess I do have a loophole, [if] the idea was to throw a loophole into it. Which would be [to go], ‘Uhhh, I guess Star Trek doesn’t count. I can do Star Trek … but naturally I would end on an original.’ But the idea of doing 10 isn’t to come up with a loophole. I actually think, if I was going to do Star Trek, I should commit to it. It’s my last movie. There should be nothing left-handed about it. I don’t know if I’m going to do that, but that might happen.” [Cinema Blend]

The main takeaway here is that Tarantino is clearly feeling some indecision about where he wants to take his career going forward. At just 56-years-old, nothing (as far as we know) is forcing Tarantino to retire other than his own machinations, meaning there’s no real reason why he has to quit after his tenth film. Ridley Scott is 81 for fuck sake and he’s still churning out about a movie every two years.

If I was a betting man (which I am, albeit largely unsuccessfully), I’d take the over on 1.5 Tarantino films before he retires. The man is, at his core, a movie lover, which makes it hard to believe that he’d give up his life’s passion just because he’s crossed an imaginary finish line that he set for himself.

Furthermore, Tarantino is more than just a director, he’s a visionary auteur who has only dabbled in original ideas (sans Jackie Brown) for the entirety of his career. While the film would be assuredly epic, seeing the seminal Pulp Fiction filmmaker go out helming a blockbuster franchise as commercialized as Star Trek would ultimately leave a bad taste in the mouths of his longtime fans.

Tarantino’s ninth feature film — ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD — will be released in theaters on Friday, July 26.

Eric Italiano BroBIble avatar
Eric Italiano is a NYC-based writer who spearheads BroBible's Pop Culture and Entertainment content. He covers topics such as Movies, TV, and Video Games, while interviewing actors, directors, and writers.