Summary

• The Movie Critic was set in the 1970s, inspired by a real critic, possibly involving remakes of '70s films.
• Tarantino sought new actors for The Movie Critic, with Brad Pitt reportedly involved as Cliff Booth.
• The Movie Critic may have turned into an extension of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with meta ideas featuring past Tarantino characters.

The Movie Critic will no longer be Quentin Tarantino’s 10th and final movie, but more details about what it could have been like have emerged since its cancelation was revealed. Quentin Tarantino has been quite open about his plans to retire after making 10 movies, which has created a lot of interest and anticipation about every one of his projects leading up to that tenth film. In March 2023, it was announced that Tarantino had finished the script for The Movie Critic and it would be his long-awaited final movie, with plans to begin filming in the fall of 2023.

Little was revealed about The Movie Critic since its announcement, but there were various rumors about it, from the potential main cast to the supposed real-life inspirations for it and possible connections to other Tarantino movies. In April 2024, it was reported that Tarantino had scrapped The Movie Critic and would be moving on to another project for his 10th and final movie. More details about The Movie Critic have been revealed since then, giving an idea of what it could have been like.

The Movie Critic's Original Premise Explained

Little Was Known About The Movie Critic’s Plot

The Movie Critic was going to be set in the 1970s, and its main character was inspired by a real movie critic Tarantino once met and who wrote reviews in porno magazines.

Plot details of The Movie Critic weren’t revealed when the movie was in development and haven’t been shared yet (and might not be), but Tarantino shared a couple of details about the general idea. The Movie Critic was going to be set in the 1970s, and its main character was inspired by a real movie critic Tarantino once met and who wrote reviews in porno magazines. Tarantino never shared the name of the critic he took inspiration from, nor the magazine he wrote for, but he told Deadline that his reviews were “a cross of early Howard Stern” and Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle and his “porno rag critic was very, very funny”.

The reviewer in The Movie Critic would have written for a magazine called The Popstar Pages, and given the inspiration behind the character, he probably would have had a similar “vulgar” and “funny” style. In an interview with IndieWire, director Paul Schrader revealed Tarantino was going to use clips from movies from the 1970s and remake some of them in his new movie, and among those movies was Rolling Thunder. Schrader shared that Tarantino asked if he could redo the ending of Rolling Thunder, and he agreed to it.

Tarantino Originally Wanted An Actor He'd Never Worked With Before For The Movie Critic

Quentin Tarantino Was Looking For Something New

Tarantino said he had an idea of someone who could pull it off but didn’t give a name, but he did say he wouldn’t cast a British actor as the lead.

The Movie Critic didn’t go too far in its casting process, but there were rumors about who could have been cast. In the same interview with Deadline, Tarantino mentioned that the reviewer he took inspiration from was in his early to mid-30s and died in his late 30s, so he was looking to cast someone around 35 years old. Tarantino added that his lead actor would be someone he hadn’t worked with before, so that took some names out of the list.

Tarantino also said he had an idea of someone who could pull it off but didn’t give a name, but he did say he wouldn’t cast a British actor as the lead. One name heavily rumored to have been considered for the main role in The Movie Critic, and who was even said to have been offered the role, was Paul Walter Hauser, but there wasn’t any confirmation on that.

The Movie Critic Had Reportedly Cast Brad Pitt In One Of The Starring Roles

The Movie Critic Would Have Been Tarantino & Pitt’s Third Collaboration

Given the description Tarantino had given of the main character, it was safe to assume Pitt wasn’t going to be the title critic.

The biggest news about The Movie Critic’s cast was all about Brad Pitt. After working with Tarantino in Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Pitt was reportedly teaming up with Tarantino one more time in The Movie Critic. Of course, details about his role in The Movie Critic weren’t revealed at the time, but given the description Tarantino had given of the main character, it was safe to assume Pitt wasn’t going to be the title critic.

Pitt played Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds, the leader of the title Basterds team whose goal was to kill and scalp as many Nazis as possible, including Hitler. In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Pitt played Cliff Booth, a stuntman who faced Charles Manson’s followers when they tried to kill his best friend Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio). Once Upon a Time in Hollywood gave Pitt the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, showing that he can be either a main character or a supporting one in Tarantino’s universe.

The Movie Critic Morphed Into A Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Sequel (Of Sorts)

Brad Pitt Would Have Played Cliff Booth Again

As The Movie Critic was set in 1977, it would have been a continuation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Cliff Booth’s story.

One of the biggest reveals about The Movie Critic that emerged after its cancelation was its connection to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. According to THR, The Movie Critic went through many changes, and at one point, it became part of the world of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. As such, Pitt would have reprised his role as Cliff Booth, and as The Movie Critic was set in 1977, it would have been a continuation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Booth’s story.

It’s unclear exactly what Booth’s role in The Movie Critic would have been and how much of a continuation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood it would have been, or if they just shared a couple of links here and there. What’s true is that it would have been a risky move, as The Movie Critic wouldn’t have been able to match what Booth did in his first movie.

The Movie Critic May Have Brought Back Other Tarantino Characters & Actors

The Movie Critic Was Almost Too Meta