The Movie Critic: Rumors say Quentin Tarantino offered the lead to Paul Walter Hauser prior to the strikes

Last Updated on October 4, 2023

All eyes are on the development of the tenth film from Quentin Tarantino. The prolific director has declared that his last film will be a feature titled The Movie Critic. After a strong debut with Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino cemented his place in pop culture and with film nerds everywhere with his sophomore film Pulp Fiction. Since the success of that film, the director has become a household name, and people continued to gravitate toward the filmmaker’s throwback style amid the graphic violence, language and foot fetish.

Casting for a Tarantino film is usually as anticipated as the plot details. The Kill Bill director has a penchant for working with legacy actors as well as some obscure names. Industry insider Daniel Richtman has revealed that Tarantino is rumored to have offered the starring role in his final film to character actor Paul Walter Hauser. Hauser can be seen for his scene-stealing roles in projects like I, Tonya and Cobra Kai. He has also been able to show off his acting chops in a Clint Eastwood film that he also headlined, Richard Jewell.

The Screen Actors Guild strike has currently put a hold on any deal or formal announcements, but the role that Hauser would likely be playing is the title role of the movie critic — Jim Sheldon. Tarantino himself would write with Sheldon as a pseudonym for the New Beverly Cinema website. New Beverly is the throwback movie theater that Tarantino currently owns.

The plot for The Movie Critic is currently under wraps, although it is said that it will not involve the concept of revenge despite Tarantino describing the Jim Sheldon character as “Travis Bickle if he was a movie critic.” All that is currently known is the film takes place in 1977, which puts it in the year of the release of Star Wars. Perhaps it’s foolish to expect any kind of heavy reference since Tarantino squabbled with Disney over the house of mouse taking over screens when both The Force Awakens and The Hateful Eight were set to open around the same time. The film was supposed to start production this fall, but as the strikes march on, no new word has been revealed on when the movie has rescheduled it’s principal photography.