Roundtables Galore. Tarantino to Retire?
Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at 5:37PM 
The annual Actress Roundtable (pt 1 & pt 2) is the only member of THR's delightful tradition of one hour conversations that I can carve out time to cover in full but since the Directors video has arrived, you should watch it!
Quentin Tarantino's threat of retiring is very annoying. He hasn't been prolific enough to earn retirement. If he is ever going to retire I pray he does it in the Steven Soderbergh all bark and no bite kind of way. I'm not counting but I think Soderbergh has already made as many movies as Tarantino has ever made SINCE he announced his retirement.
I also love Tarantino's comments about editing his writing. I don't mean to single Tarantino out in the conversation but he is a chatty one.
Are all of these men draws for you when they're the name behind the movie? Who do you wish had been included and who would you boot out to make room for them? For me I'm wishing Wes Anderson and Joe Wright had been invited. They would have been interesting to hear from.
After the jump, in case you missed them, the Actors and Writers Roundtable
ACTORS
WRITERS
Reader Comments (32)
I'd love to see Kathryn Bigelow invited for once.
I can't get past Ben Affleck talking about how terrible that one actor in one of his movies was and that he had to use his vanity to get rid of him. Seriously, Ben f*** Gigli Affleck.
Maybe actors are vain, but directors are much more full of themselves.
Tarantino quit? Good. Pulp Fiction and Jackie Browne are the only films of his worth watching. The rest have been over-hyped and over-rated.
What's Tarantino retiring from? Lame-ass standup? That's his only profession.
Are all these directors draws:
Affleck: No.
Hooper: Borderline, but with the right concept, sure.
Ang Lee: With the right concept.
O. Russell: With the right concept, definitely.
Tarantino: Most Definitely.
QT's whole thing about retiring before he gets old and stops making good films is silly. Kurosawa and Altman made some of their best work in the last decade of their prospective careers.
I'd trade Van Sant (surprised to see him) and Tarantino for Bigelow and Speilberg, because then I would assume the five are there. (Haneke was with the writers, which I need to watch and it still amuses me.) Has anyone seen Django yet? Supporting Actor seems the most likely place for it to show up... maybe twice.
Paul Thomas Anderson...then everyone else.
Tarantino is looking for excuses to not make more movies because he knows he'll never be Pulp Fiction relevant again. Like Meryl Streep being proud of The Iron Lady as if it were equivalent to Sophie's Choice. It hangs over his head and he's frustrated by his inability to replicate the of its time inventiveness of it in subsequent movies.
I know Affleck is eye candy but O Russell assured masculine energy really pulled me towards him.
But Tarantino just announced that he's making a Jackie Brown sequel last week. He also has that straight war film (rather than revisionist history ala Inglorious Basterds) and the Kill Bill sequel he's talked about before. He won't retire before at least the first two are done. If he retires, it will be a "I'm not directing anymore, but I will gladly write, act, and produce for my friends" retirement. Which will be just like every other year that Tarantino doesn't release a film.
Tarantino can retire whenever he wants to. The man has already left his mark on cinema and will not soon be forgotten. He doesn't need to be prolific to "earn" retirement. If he feels like he has done the work he wants to do, then that is it. These comments on here about his supposed retirement are what is really annoying. We don't own him or his films and its no wonder artists like him get sick of us supposed "fans". We are whiny know it all bitches.
Sean cut the Anne Wilkes. There are no delusions here.
The director one is always fascinating because they are never trying to be faux-humble in the same way the actors are. There's so much ego, but it's great to watch.
Bia - absolutely agree with you. The directors ones are always my favorites. There's always something in the actors on that I HATE (although I still watch) - last year it was when Charlize Theron interrupted Viola Davis, who was trying to make a point about how she's seen and Charlize is all "stop that, you're fucking hot!" which missed the point entirely.
Directors one this year: Ang Lee's "50 Shades of Grey". I love how exasperated he sounded. I wish Kathryn Bigelow and Robert Zemeckis were there, especially since Bigelow is a knowledge goddess of film history and film theory -- it would be fun to hear her banter with Quentin . Also, I wanted to hear from someone who is pro-digital just so there'd be a difference of opinion in the mix. Glad Galloway mentioned the returning roundtable participants: I would have wanted to see a Kathryn-Quentin reunion since there was the Tom Hooper-David O'Russell reunion from Oscars roundtable past. [And it ticks me off that the Kathryn-Quentin year is the year the Hollywood Reporter never released the full video and only did truncated bits. Same with the LA Times, where the transcript from the directors roundtable that year was just jaw-droppingly good].
Too bad Michael Haneke wasn't invited. Would be an interesting contrast to his cold and professorial bearing in opposition to QT's chatterbox tendencies.
3rtful: No one should ever underestimate your ability to work Meryl Streep into your comments on posts that have nothing to do with her. She's really got a hold on you!
@MikeinCanada: I believe it's actually in the contract when you join the nation of Streeponia; trying to find more and more ways to mention Her Highness in every conversation you have.
"Oh, happy 17th birthday, Jennifer! Did you know that's the same number of times Meryl Streep's been nominated for an Academy award?"
"What a lovely bird cage! Meryl Streep played alongside a Cage in Adaptation back in 2002!"
"I can't believe you would do something like this to me! I'm gonna go Cry...in the Dark!"
Jeremy for the win
Mike it's Stockholm Syndrome.
Tarantino is NEVER gonna make any of these sequels.
I've waiting for years his The Vega Brothers and nothing happened.
3rtful: I don't Doubt it. She's a She-Devil, you know.
As for the topic at hand, Russell, Lee and Tarantino are all draws, where I'm taking time for their new movie no matter where or when or what it is.
Affleck and Hooper still have to earn it; I'm seeing their films, but not because it's the latest Tom Hooper joint. (Not yet, anyway)
Van Sant, I love a lot, but I'm in based on the material. No need to see Finding Forrester in this lifetime.
Mike I've made my Choice and I have had Plenty of Streep for a lifetime.
Dude what the fuck? Tarantino retiring? Jesus the dipshit has only made eight films and he's talking about retiring? Now I like his movies but for Christ's sake he's only in his forties so retiring is out of the question. He needs to get his act together and start making more movies and quit shooting off at the mouth.
A bunch of white dudes (and Ang Lee). Snooooze. But the Hooper shade on Tarantino was nice. Quentin shoulda slapped him.
You're right, of course. That's why I wrote I wish it could happen. The fact is most of my friends and acquaintances would never go see Rust and Bone. Voters are no different.
The Tarantino retirement thing is nothing new, but I was kind of surprised to hear David O. Russell basically disavow I Heart Huckabees around the eighteen minute mark. I get that it was a rough spot in his personal life and career, and it was a flop, and the videos of his on set rants were probably deeply humiliating, but I've always had a soft spot for that movie.
Tarantino, Russell, and Van Sant are really the only draws for me here. Affleck makes great films, but I wouldn't say his work as a director is what draws me to his projects.
I would've loved to hear from Benh Zeitlin. Remember a couple years when they have Lisa Cholodeno and Derek Cianfrance on the panel? I feel like that sort of element is missing from the room this time around. No choices here that are off the beaten path.
I love Tarantino! I did feel Inglorious Basterds was uneven (I hated that ending, but it had lots of great stuff in it). I loved Death Proof, Jackie Brown, both Kill Bills and Pulp Fiction.
Michael Haneke, John Krasinski and Judd Apatow together in a Roundtable. It's quite something, really.
Roark -- i know. I think it's a flat out great comedy. So it's disappointing that he dismisses it so readily.
Not to draw too far away from the director's roundtable, but I watched the actors' piece, and it was a lively and full discussion.
Helen Hunt should be angry about how little substance was actually brought up in the actresses' roundtable. Man there is just a lack of genuine reporting involving the ladies because the gentlemen had a full and vital discussion that actually seemed to produce some new insights.
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