Sundance: Quentin Tarantino Reveals Why He Hasn’t Been Directing Lately

Dominic Patten and Anthony D'Alessandro

27 January 2025 at 7:03 pm·3-min read

EXCLUSIVE: Thirty-three years after Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the two-time Oscar winning filmmaker was back in Park City today.

Rarely at a loss of words and a love of cinema, Tarantino — who workshopped the flick starring Tim Roth and Eddie Bunker in Sundance’s Directors Labs before it hit the screen — showed up Monday evening in a surprise sit-down at the Elvis Suite Presented by Darling Co. on upper Main Street as the 2025 iteration of the Robert Redford-founded gathering went into its final days.

More from Deadline

“I’m in no hurry to jump into production right now, I’ve been doing that for 30 years,” Tarantino told the audience on his emphasis on writing of late. “I kinda want to not end up doing whatever movie I end up doing until my son is 6,” the semi-Israel-based filmmaker and father of two said of his absence from the director’s chair in the past few years.

Of course, the joys of fatherhood and family taken into account, Tarantino revealed he is working on a play that he hopes will see the light of day in the next year.

“If that’s a smash hit, that might be my last movie,” he added, taking a kick at the elephant in the room.

“I’m really jaded,” Tarantino quipped to Elvis Mitchell, taking a swing at Sundance and how cold he finds Utah in January now.

Part of the reason why Tarantino is spreading his wings into other creative outlets has to do with his frustration with movies’ short windows.

“What the f*ck is a movie that plays in four weeks and by the second week you watch it on television. I didn’t get into it (filmmaking) for diminishing returns,” said the multi-Oscar winner, then turning to why he’s really juiced about live theater right now.”

“They pay a lot of f*cking money to get into that seat” he said about theatergoers over moviegoers, “there’s no f*cking taping it, there’s no cell phone, you own the audience for that time. They are all yours, they are in the palm of your hand. It’s not just about doing art, it’s about wowing them, it’s about giving them a great night out. This to me is f*cking existing. It’s the last frontier.”

At which point the audience erupted into applause.

In regards to Tarantino’s ennui with the motion picture industry, he feels he’s been there, down that. “I’ve been able to work in the higher echelon of the film industry,” said the director talking about how he was in a top of class Sundance 1992.

His challenge at 61: how does he negotiate a 30-year career “and leave them wanting more?”

Exclaimed Tarantino, “Leaving them wanting more is the game, but few people play it.”

You can watch the video of Tarantino’s remarks below.

Quentin Tarantino makes a surprise appearance at #Sundance2025 and when asked about the writing mode he’s been in he responds: “I’m in no hurry to actually jump into production of a movie” pic.twitter.com/7SxAK0wb8i
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) January 28, 2025

Best of Deadline