Quentin Tarantino: Why I'm giving up filmmaking

Quentin Tarantino ain't bluffing on his plan to quit Hollywood. Photo / Getty Images

Director Quentin Tarantino is responsible for some of the most iconic films of the past 30 years — but he insists his next movie will be his last.

The Pulp Fiction director, 56, makes the shocking revelation in the July / August issue of GQ Australia, saying he's at the "end of the road" when it comes to making movies, reports news.com.au.

"I think when it comes to theatrical movies, I've come to the end of the road," he said. "I see myself writing books and starting to write theatre, so I'll still be creative. I just think I've given all I have to give to movies."

Tarantino even suggested he'll step away sooner if his newest film, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, does well.

"Maybe I'll stop right now! Maybe I'll stop while I'm ahead," he said. "We'll see."

Brad Pitt, who stars in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie, backed up Tarantino's claims the film would be his last.

Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Photo / Supplied

"No, I don't think he's bluffing at all," says Pitt, when we put this to him. "I think he's dead serious. And I kind of openly lament that to him, but he understands the math of when he feels like directors start falling off their game. But he has other plans and we're not going to have to say goodbye for a long time," he teased.

The new film, Tarantino's 9th, is a comedy/drama set in an "alternative timeline" of 1960s Los Angeles that blends fiction with reality — Pitt and DiCaprio play fictional Hollywood bit-players, but the film also features the real-life Charles Manson murders heavily, with Robbie playing actress and murder victim Sharon Tate.

It's both Pitt and DiCaprio's second time working with Tarantino — Pitt had previously scored rave reviews 10 years ago with his role in the Nazi war drama Inglourious Basterds. He told GQ Australia it was a no-brainer teaming up with the director again.

"Both times I've worked with him, it's been an immediate 'yes'," said Pitt, "and I would think that's true for all of us. You know you're in great hands. And you know you're gonna get to chew on some of the best dialogue you'll ever get.

"I always describe his dialogue as like, if you're in an altercation or you stick your foot in your mouth, you're driving home and you think: 'F**k, I wish I'd said that!' His dialogue is always the thing you wish you'd said."