Quentin Tarantino is threatening to take his encyclopedic knowledge of popular cinema and call it a career, according to Deadline.com.
The Pulp Fiction auteur told reporters this week that once he wraps his 10th feature film – he’s currently working on number (‘The Hateful’) eight – he’ll retire from the directing game.
I don’t believe you should stay onstage until people are begging you to get off,” he said. “I like the idea of leaving them wanting a bit more. I do think directing is a young man’s game, and I like the idea of an umbilical cord connection from my first to my last movie … I like that I will leave a 10-film filmography, and so I’ve got two more to go after this. It’s not etched in stone, but that is the plan. If I get to the 10th, do a good job and don’t screw it up, well that sounds like a good way to end the old career.
The director immediately opened the door to a return, saying he wouldn’t turn down a movie project just because he announced his retirement.
That exit clause puts him in good company.
Plenty of stars have vowed to retire from show business only to return in some capacity.
- Garth Brooks: The country megastar hung up his microphone in 2001 at the peak of his commercial powers. In July, Brooks announced he had a new tour and album in the works.
- Cher: The Oscar winner’s retirement talk has become part of her mystique, given the term came affixed to her expansive farewell tour which wrapped in 2005. Now, in her late 60s, she shows no signs of keeping her promise.
- The Eagles: The supergroup stopped touring in 1982, but regrouped for the first of many tours in 1994. The band acknowledged the matter by dubbing their reunion “Hell Freezes Over.”
- Steven Soderbergh: The director of Traffic, The Limey and Ocean’s Eleven started talking retirement in 2009 and since then has worked steadily on a number of projects. His 2013 movie, Magic Mike, is meant to be his cinematic swan song. He’s kept busy all the same with television projects (The Knick) and theatrical work (The Library).
Some stars do keep their word when it comes to retirement. Oscar winner Gene Hackman vowed to retire and remains away from screens large and small. His last on-screen credit? The 2004 comedy Welcome to Mooseport.
Sean Connery also stepped away from movies. While he lent his voice to a handful of projects, his last acting performance came with 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentleman.