Why Quentin Tarantino never wants to end up like his idol Brian De Palma: “Doom lies down that road”
Every director dreams of leaving behind a legacy that stands the test of time, but few have been as transparently desperate to achieve it as Quentin Tarantino, with the filmmaker becoming increasingly obsessed with how the history books will remember him.
There’s barely an auteur in the business to leave with their head held high and a perfect filmography in their back pocket, and while Tarantino’s track record is better than most, with Death Proof the only notable misfire of his nine features to date, it’s beginning to look as though he’s painted himself into a corner that could make or break him.
The two-time Academy Award winner has been so adamant for so long that his tenth feature will be his last that he’s placed an incredible amount of pressure on himself. He’s already scrapped The Movie Critic as his proposed swansong and has hinted towards an extended sabbatical before he finally returns for that final film, which might be a sign that he’s starting to feel the heat.
After all, Tarantino has spoken so openly about his refusal to become a slumming veteran that if his next – and last – movie isn’t either the best thing he’s ever made or one of the greatest pictures of its era, then he’s going to be dragged over hot coals for talking it up so much and failing to stick the landing.
The other option is for him to simply ignore it and carry on, which could cause him to end up like his idol. Tarantino pointed to Brian De Palma as the person who “taught me cinema,” and he was a massive inspiration for the Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs mastermind. He’s frequently touted the filmmaker as one of the all-time greats who impacted his own style and approach to the art form.
However, it would be an understatement to say De Palma fell on hard times. De Palma’s last good movie was arguably the first Mission: Impossible, back in 1996, which was also the last one to turn a tidy profit at the box office. Since then, he’s helmed another seven movies, none of which can hold a candle to his golden years when he was one of the industry’s most innovative and provocative names.
“It’s tempting, as a jerk reflex, to think about doing something that’s more commercial,” Tarantino opined to The Times of sticking to his guns and refusing to be hoovered up by the studio machine. “But doom lies down that road. I watched that happen to Brian De Palma for the last 15 years of his career, chasing his tail after disappointments. There was a desperation about it.”
There’s no denying that De Palma fell off a cliff, going from the guy behind Dressed to Kill, Scarface, Blowout, and The Untouchables to Mission to Mars, Femme Fatale, and Passion. Tarantino doesn’t want to end up like that, which is just as well when he’s so adamant that he’s only got one movie left up his sleeve.
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