Get ready for some exclusive news! Quentin Tarantino, the legendary filmmaker, spilled the beans to our columnist while sitting in the shade on the Carlton Hotel terrace. His new film will be about a movie critic from the 1970s, but don’t worry, it won’t be about the famous Pauline Kael from the New Yorker. Instead, it will be based on a man who wrote for a porno magazine. How scandalous!
Tarantino was in Cannes to announce a special screening of John Flynn’s 1977 movie Rolling Thunder, which he champions in his book Cinema Speculation. The event is billed as a ‘Rendezvous-vous with Quentin Tarantino’.
The new film, called The Movie Critic, will go into “pre-pre production” next month and is set in California in 1977. It’s based on a real-life guy who wrote movie reviews for a porno rag. Tarantino did some research into the reviewer’s life and found out that he was very funny, rude, and used racial slurs. He was as cynical as hell and his reviews were a cross between early Howard Stern and what Travis Bickle might be if he were a film critic.
Tarantino is still searching for the perfect leading man for the role, but he’s sure it will be someone in the 35-year-old ballpark. He’s not considering any British actors, though, as he thinks it’s time for American actors to take back their own ground.
Stay tuned for Part II of our chat with Tarantino, where we’ll reveal more about his love for Cannes and his early experiences with Reservoir Dogs.
