Kurt Russell Joining Legendary Director’s Final Film
Earlier this year, The Hollywood Reporter announced that legendary director Quentin Tarantino was getting ready to film his final movie, titled The Movie Critic. Now, entertainment reporter Jeff Sneider has posted a rumor on X that iconic 80s actor and Tarantino film alum Kurt Russell will be starring in the director’s swan song. While no official announcement can be made about casting while the SAG-AFTRA strike is ongoing, according to Sneider, the actor’s involvement in The Movie Critic is basically a done deal.
Kurt Russell has worked with Quentin Tarantino three times, and now, he’s part of the director’s final film, The Movie Critic.
While Kurt Russell has been acting since he was a child growing up on the Disney lot in the 60s, he broke out as one of the biggest Hollywood stars in the 70s and 80s. He made a name for himself as an action star in John Carpenter’s Escape From New York in 1981 and then later became one of Quentin Tarantino’s go-to actors after working with the director in Death Proof in 2007, and then later The Hateful Eight, and Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood.
It’s no surprise that Kurt Russell will likely be in Quentin Tarantino’s last movie, especially since the pair have a relationship that’s been building for nearly 20 years. Other actors close with the director are also rumored to be appearing in The Movie Critic, including Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, and possibly Paul Walter Hauser.
Initially scheduled for production this fall, the filming of The Movie Critic has been delayed due to the strike. However, even if Kurt Russell and the other actors can’t step on a soundstage for The Movie Critic just yet, that hasn’t stopped the film from progressing in other ways. Just last month, Quentin Tarantino secured a tax incentive from the state of California to shoot the film in Los Angeles.
The California Film Commission conditionally approved 16 films, including Quentin Tarantino’s project, for a total of $77.8 million in tax incentives. “I started directing movies [in California], and it is only fitting that I shoot my final motion picture in the cinema capital of the world,” the director said about filming his last movie in L.A. Tarantino is slated to receive $20,213,000 in tax credits, most likely a pretty big chunk making up the bulk of the budget for Kurt Russell’s next movie.
Knowledge of who Kurt Russell ends up playing in Quentin Tarantino’s last film will have to wait until the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved.
The Movie Critic takes place in 1977 and follows a main character similar to “Travis Bickle if he were a film critic,” according to Quentin Tarantino. In other words, this character will be a solitary and reclusive individual who writes reviews for an underground adult magazine. However, it won’t be Kurt Russell in the role of the main character since Tarantino based the guy on a real person who died in his late 30s.
It’s no surprise that Kurt Russell will likely be in Quentin Tarantino’s last movie, especially since the pair have a relationship that’s been building for nearly 20 years.
Kurt Russell is 72 years old, nearly double the age of the character Quentin Tarantino based on his main character. That means it’s also not going to be Samuel L. Jackson, who is 74, or John Travolta, age 69. However, it could be Paul Walter Hauser, who is 39.
Knowledge of who Kurt Russell ends up playing in Quentin Tarantino’s last film will have to wait until the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved. Until then, all we can do is speculate and hope that guys like Jeff Sneider uncover more secret information about The Movie Critic to post on X.
