I figured we wouldn’t hear of Quentin Tarantino‘s next picture for, say, another year, given his typical working patterns — three years, as of late, unless he’s simply releasing a second half (e.g. Kill Bill Vol. 2) or setting some public, personal goal for himself (e.g. promising to bring Inglourious Basterds to Cannes 2009 when speaking at Cannes 2008, then living up to such a promise) — so what follows is a very pleasant surprise, even if it’s also a vague surprise, at that.
As a tweet (via HitFix) sent out during a taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno will relay, the one and only Q.T., a guest under the influence of moonshine, announced that he’s almost wrapped the scripting process on his next project: a western. That… is the extent of this news, I’m afraid, though one must remember that Tarantino, ever the loquacious sort, has been hinting at one project or another since he was on the Django press tour: another World War II title / sequel-of-sorts, or even a gangster-centered title set in the ’30s. (After which he offered, “I could think of doing another western, actually.”) This, fans will know, is to say nothing of so many titles that are mentioned in a seemingly off-the-cuff manner, only to blossom years down the line.
While, yes, those prospective efforts don’t fit into our conceptions of the genre, the man is not beholden to traditional definitions of that sort; he’s referred to Basterds as a western, too, and the last title showed nary a strict adherence to any sort of trappings — it wasn’t necessarily a “western,” nor was it even truly about slavery, for that matter. (Along with its blood-and-bullets criticism of capitalism, Django Unchained has other, stranger things bubbling under its well-polished surfaces.) We might look at what’s been offered up and instantly rule it out, what with no discernible room for saloons or horses, but, for now, it’s best not to make too many assumptions in any particular direction. Just, please, make something of that Tim Roth news from earlier in the year.
Watch his appearance below:
What do you think of Tarantino returning to the genre? Do you have any special hopes for what’s been hinted at between Django and now?