Quentin Tarantino has finished a script for what would be his tenth and final film, but it will wait. Speaking on The Graham Norton Show, he said: “I've written a script that I really like, but I want to do the play and see who I am,” according to World of Reel.
The Play Comes First
The play is The Popinjay Cavalier, a swashbuckling comedy starring Sacha Baron Cohen. It opens at the Phoenix Theatre in London's West End next March after previews in late February, and the three-month run closes June 13, according to Lower Bucks Times. Tarantino said it began as a screenplay before he realized “it really worked as a play,” describing it as jumping off from the swashbuckling movie genre “with a French farce quality to it.”
It is unusual for a filmmaker of Tarantino’s profile to change a project’s form in this way. A screenplay that becomes a stage production suggests that the story’s strengths, in his view, lie in live performance, in the timing of a farce and in the energy of actors sharing a room with an audience. The casting of Baron Cohen, who is best known for comedy, fits the tone Tarantino describes, though the reports cited here do not say who else is in the cast or who directs.
An Open Question: Who Is He After the Play?
Afterward he plans to “go back and spend time with my family and live a little” before deciding what to do next, per World of Reel. He has long said he will retire after his tenth film.
The phrase “see who I am” in his earlier quote is the most revealing detail in the interview. It indicates that the play is for Tarantino a test of how he feels after a major creative effort in a new medium, and that he intends to make decisions about the film only after that experience. The statement about spending time with his family adds a personal reason for the pause. Together, the two comments describe a filmmaker who is not rushing toward his last film, even though he has a script he likes.
The Math Behind “Tenth”
Tarantino counts the two Kill Bill films as separate, which is how his ninth film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, leads to a tenth. His earlier titles include Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. He has won the Academy Award for best original screenplay for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained, which gives particular weight to any statement about his final screenplay.
What Is and Is Not Known About the Film
The film's title and premise have not been disclosed, and no production start or release date has been announced. World of Reel says it appears separate from The Movie Critic, which it describes as dead. His last film was Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019, and World of Reel estimates the new film would arrive in 2028 at the earliest. That is the outlet's own guess, not a date from Tarantino.
The distinction between what Tarantino said and what the outlet estimates is important. His own words establish that a script exists and that the play comes first. The 2028 estimate is a calculation based on the play’s run, which ends June 13, followed by time away from work, followed by pre-production and filming. Since Tarantino has not given a schedule, any release year should be read as speculation.
The status of The Movie Critic also deserves care. World of Reel says the new script appears to be a separate project and describes the earlier one as dead, but Tarantino himself has not been quoted in the sources here confirming that, so the relationship between the two scripts remains unconfirmed.
Timeline at a Glance
- Late February: previews of The Popinjay Cavalier begin at the Phoenix Theatre
- March: official opening in London’s West End
- June 13: scheduled close of the three-month run
- After the run: time with family, then a decision on the tenth film
That sequence shows that no work on the film is expected until the play ends, which makes the earliest realistic start a matter of months after June 13. Until Tarantino announces his plans, fans can follow the play as the first public sign of what he is working on.