As the future ofQuentin Tarantino’sfilmmaking career hangs in the air, the American auteur seems to be reveling in the inherent mystery surrounding his next project. At the end of last year, anew Tarantino-led limited serieswas announced with a release date set in the early part of 2023, but all other details have remained under wraps. While fans speculateKill Billsequels and unrealized Tarantino dream films, it’s apt to question what this upcoming project means for Tarantino’s career and the divisions of film and television at large.
Amidst histwenty-plus years working in the film industry, Quentin Tarantino has positioned himself as one of the defenders of Cinema and has taken this prestigious honor very seriously. His appreciation and passion for film seep into his wily public persona and quotable one-liners such asthe infamous proclamationthat “digital projection is the death of cinema.”
When putting this into consideration, how does this eight-part limited series fit into Tarantino’s film purist philosophy and his insistence to preserve the filmmaking process? Is this Tarantino’s way of delaying his retirement? Or is this his way of accepting that the times are changing?
The Tenth Film
After the release of his ninth movie,Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood, Tarantino has been vocal about hispotential retirement plansas he intends to cap off his illustrious filmography with a final film while phasing into film literature. WithCinema Speculationrecently published, it’s become clear that Tarantino may actually be staying true to his word which raises speculation about the surprising announcement of Tarantino’s mysterious television series. While he insists that a streaming film wouldn’t count as a “final film,” there’s definitely room for Tarantino to surprise us in more ways than one.
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With streaming effectively killing theatrical releases and television quality bubbling up to levels comparable to film, there’s an argument to be made about whether film and television can exist on the same plane. Given the assumption that they can, Tarantino’s limited series could essentially function as his tenth film — a super film, if you will — for the inherent nature of a limited series is particularly advantageous fora Tarantino-penned project. The lengthy runtime would allow for more eccentric plot twists, the expanded network of characters and storylines would enhance his elaborate world-building, and Tarantino would certainly benefit from the lofty budgets afforded to recent serialized streaming shows.
For a final send-off, bigger just seems most appropriate for a director as large as life itself. Tarantino’s ability to blend genres,create memorable characters, invoke the spirit of theater, and revise historical narratives demands an expansive canvas that film sometimes cannot inflate to. As Tarantino prepares to call it quits, he leaves behind an industry grappling with its own survival and this limited series may be the perfect opportunity to comment on this struggle while experimenting with the ways film and television crossover.
What Does This Mean for Film and Television?
As Tarantino and other film purists have anxiously expressed, the demise of cinema as we’ve previously known it is as imminent as Tarantino’s own retirement. The lines between film and television are more blurred than ever before as the ways we consume media continue to redefine what we label film and television.
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Other auteur directors such as Barry Jenkins (The Underground Railroad), Lenny Abrahamson (Normal People), and David Lynch (Twin Peaks) have also dappled in serialized shows, and it’s difficult to separate their work in television from their work in film. In the last ten years, shows such asGame of Thrones(2011-2019),The Handmaid’s Tale(2017-present), and nowThe Last of Us(2023) have garnered cult followings with similar fan loyalty as big-name, Hollywood actors or popular indie directors. At the same time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ushered an industry-level shift towards the serialization of movies which arguably relates more to television and serial films of the silent era in the early 20th century. Quentin himself prophetically predicted that changes in film projection would usher in the notion that it’s “just television in cinema.”
It’ll be interesting to see if a streaming service like Netflix or HBO or Amazon is daring enough to premiere an entire serialized show in theaters by offering each episode a one-week release like the way they theatrically premiere their films. The endless potential raises other questions… Would a popular show likeBridgertonhave the same influence on the box office asThe AvengersorAvatar? Would an expanded cinematic universe like the DCU function better as a multi-layered television series? Would a Quentin Tarantino-directed limited series have the same impact in the theater as one of his award-winning films?
All of these questions point to the divisive uncertainty behind the future of the entertainment industry and how it adapts to major shifts in consumer trends and preferences. As Tarantino’s storied career comes to a close, his final project may fall at a time when his favorite art form is forced to shape-shift and his limited series could be an exciting, last-effort attempt to embrace these changes.
