Quentin Tarantino Retiring? The Director Confirms Rumors, Says He’s Done After Two More Films

Quentin Tarantino has officially confirmed that he is retiring from directing films.

Tarantino told onlookers at Adobe Max, a creativity conference hosted by the software company in San Diego, that he plans to stop directing films after completing his tenth feature-length movie, Indie Wire reports. For fans who are keeping track, there is a silver lining: Tarantino plans to make two more films before retiring.

The filmmaker, who burst onto the independent film scene after directing Reservoir Dogs (1992), instantly garnered a large and loyal cult following. He’s since gone on to direct critically and commercially successful films like Pulp Fiction (1994), Kill Bill Vol. 1 + 2 (2003, 2004), Inglourious Basterds (2009), and Django Unchained (2012).

His films often stand out for their gratuitous violence and profanity, their dark sense of humor, and their overt sexuality.

Quentin Tarantino will retire after 2 more films: “Drop the mic. Boom. Tell everybody” https://t.co/4D6pLmkWJt

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) November 3, 2016

“Drop the mic. Boom. Tell everybody, ‘Match that s**t,'” The Hollywood Reporter quoted Tarantino as saying to the Adobe Max crowd, “to much applause.”

The Reporter noted that earlier this year Tarantino hinted that his next feature film may be a “‘Bonnie and Clyde-esque’ tale set in 1930s Australia.”

However, before he gets to work on that, he has his sites set on a nonfiction project centered around cinema in 1970, a year that Tarantino considers to be among the most pivotal in film history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Exactly what that project might entail remains up in the air.

“It could be a book, a documentary, a five-part podcast,” the Reporter quoted him as saying.

It’s difficult to determine exactly what Tarantino may or may not be counting as a feature film, in terms of meeting his 10-movie threshold before retiring.

Casually reviewing his IMDB profile could suggest Quentin Tarantino has in fact already directed 10 feature films, including Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill Vol. 1 + 2, Death Proof (2007), Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight (2015). But it appears that My Best Friend’s Birthday (1987) never finished production. Then if you count both of the Kill Bill movies as one feature, which Tarantino has suggested was his intent in a previous statement to Slash Film, you’re left with eight feature films.

All his other directing credits are for single episodes of TV shows, “special guest director” credits, and a segment in the anthology film Four Rooms (1995).

Quentin Tarantino is not joking around: His 10th movie will be the last one he makes https://t.co/v1Aq8EuMI1 pic.twitter.com/XSNsDGUKW5

— IndieWire (@IndieWire) November 4, 2016

While Quentin Tarantino has hordes of admiring fans, he’s also had his critics and run into controversy along the way. As Rolling Stone pointed out last year, “Tarantino has had a long and complicated history of using the N-word, on screen and in real life.” That same article notes that he’s often also unforgiving of other directors and overly critical of their work.

He’s hit a few bumps along the way as a director himself, which may make retiring look a whole lot more appealing. As NME previously reported, the Grindhouse double feature that Tarantino co-directed with longtime friend and collaborator Robert Rodriguez was a box-office flop.

His most recent film, last year’s The Hateful Eight, didn’t do particularly well at the box office either, earning roughly $55 million domestically after racking up a $44 million budget, according to Forbes. That’s not bad, but it’s not a huge success for someone as popular as Tarantino either. Compare that to the $163 million Django Unchained earned domestically, adding on another $263 million in foreign sales, according to Box Office Mojo.

Of course, not everybody can strike success every single time, though. And Tarantino’s fans are surely looking forward to his final two directorial installments before his retiring.

Any way you look at it, Quentin Tarantino has left his mark on the film industry and the cinematic arts. Critics, fans, and scholars will be enjoying and analyzing his films for many years to come.

[Featured Image by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images]