''Think about Travis’s diary entries'': Quentin Tarantino compares The Movie Critic's protagonist with Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver

Quentin Tarantino, known for his unique and captivating films, recently shared exciting details about his upcoming movie,The Movie Critic, in an interview with Deadline. Tarantino disclosed that his next film would focus on a movie critic from the 1970s, emphasizing that it wouldn't be centered around the renowned Pauline Kael from The New Yorker, but rather a relatively obscure writer who contributed to a magazine.

This conversation with Tarantino took place just before he announced a special screening of John Flynn's revenge thriller, Rolling Thunder, at the Directors' Fortnight. In his book, Cinema Speculation, Tarantino dedicated an entire chapter to Flynn's remarkable film, which coincidentally was released in the same year as the setting for his upcoming project.

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What is The Movie Critic about?

The Movie Critic, Tarantino's latest film, is set in California in 1977 and revolves around a relatively unknown but genuine individual who worked as a movie reviewer for a magazine.

Tarantino reminisced about his past as a worker, specifically when he used to load magazines into vending machines and collect quarters from the cash dispenser. Amid all the material, there was one magazine with a captivating movie page that caught his attention. Although Tarantino didn't disclose the magazine's name, he revealed that in The Movie Critic, it would be called "The Popstar Pages."

Fascinated by this critic's unique style, Tarantino delved into researching the critic's life further. He discovered that, despite writing with the maturity of a 55-year-old, the critic passed away in his late thirties due to complications arising from alcoholism.

As for casting of The Movie Critic, Tarantino admitted that none had been finalized yet. Tarantino expressed his intention to cast someone in their mid-thirties. He's seeking a fresh face for the film's leading man.

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How does The Movie Critic's protagonist relate to Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver?

Tarantino went on to describe the critic as someone who wrote about mainstream movies, occupying the position of a second-string critic. Comparing him to a combination of an early Howard Stern and a film-critic version of Travis Bickle, Tarantino emphasized the critic's cynical yet witty approach.

Tarantino said:

"Think about Travis's diary entries. But the magazine critic was very, very funny. He was very rude, you know. He used bad words. But he was really funny. He was rude as hell."

As the conversation came to a close, Tarantino mentioned his plans to return to his family in Tel Aviv after Cannes, before moving to Los Angeles to begin the "pre-pre production" phase and search for suitable actors.

When asked about the possibility of considering British actors for the lead in The Movie Critic, Tarantino empathetically declined, expressing his belief that cinema's current trend of British and Australian actors portraying Americans doesn't truly capture the essence of the American screen actor.

The conversation then drifted toward the state of American screen actors, with Tarantino expressing a desire to see iconic figures like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Stacy Keach representing the culture on screen, reflecting the golden era of 70s cinema.

He emphasized that there are indeed numerous talented British actors but suggested that they had overshadowed their American counterparts due to a lack of competition.

Tarantino's passion for films was evident as he reminisced about the impact of Rolling Thunder during his adolescence, mentioning how he watched it multiple times, developed theories around the characters and their motivations, and explored the director's other works.

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The Movie Critic is currently in the very early stages of pre-production.