Christopher Walken recalls his first meeting with Walken delivering a standout monologue as Captain Koons. Pulp Fiction ultimately served as a launchpad for Tarantino, and he went on to make Jackie Brown (1997) and Kill Bill volumes 1 and 2 in the early 2000s.

In a recent interview with AOL, Walken touches on his working relationship with Tarantino, recalling his first meeting with the legendary filmmaker. The actor reveals that they actually met through their mutual friend, Harvey Keitel, who had worked with Tarantino on Reservoir Dogs. Check out Walken's recollection of the encounter below:

“I was staying at the Chateau Marmont at the time, and Harvey said to me, ‘There’s this guy you’ve got to meet, he’s brilliant,’ and he brought Quentin over. And I he was kind of shy and he looked about 12. And I thought, you know, Harvey had discovered this Orson Wellesian teenager. Anyway, he’s terrific.”

Tarantino has been open about wanting to retire from making movies after his tenth film, and Walken weighs in on this as well. "Quentin said somewhere that he wasn’t going to make any more movies," Walken says, "but I hope that’s not true.” Walken also recalls preparing for his role in Pulp Fiction, praising Tarantino's dialogue:

“I had the speech for about four months, and I think it was eight pages long. And no matter what else I was doing, I would spend an hour a day going over that speech and gradually learning it. And every time I got to the end of it, it would make me laugh. Because his dialogue is all there on the page.”

Walken appeared in 1993's True Romance, which Tarantino wrote but did not direct.

What Walken's Comments Mean For Quentin Tarantino

What Is The Director's Last Movie?

Pulp Fiction remains the only movie Walken and Tarantino have made together, but it's clear that the experience was a memorable one for Walken. The actor evidently thinks Tarantino has a great deal of talent, and his desire to not see the director retire is a common sentiment among film fans and others in Hollywood. Tarantino has long said that his movie career will stop at 10 films, and, counting the two Kill Bill movies as one, this means he only has one left to make.

Tarantino's tenth and supposedly final movie was reported to be a project called The Movie Critic. Reports and rumors claimed that everyone from Brad Pitt to Tom Cruise were being eyed to star in the film, which is said to have started as a movie about a porno magazine writer in the '70s before evolving into more of a Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood (2019) spinoff of sorts. Then, Tarantino scrapped the entire project after having a last-minute change of heart, and it's now unclear what his last movie will be about and who will star in it.

What Tarantino's Next Project Will Be

It's Not A Movie (But It Could Become One)

Though Tarantino's next movie remains shrouded in mystery, the director does have one big creative endeavor on the horizon. The filmmaker revealed to Variety at Sundance earlier this year that he's currently working on a stage play. This deviation from movies isn't unusual for the director, who wrote both a Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood novelization in addition to 2022's Cinema Speculation. Interestingly, Tarantino also says that if the play turns out well and is met with a positive reception, he could end up turning it into his last movie:

“If you’re wondering what I’m doing right now, I’m writing a play, and it’s going to be probably the next thing I end up doing. If it’s a fiasco I probably won’t turn it into a movie. But if it’s a smash hit? It might be my last movie.”

Now, what this play is about and when it will actually come to the stage remains unknown, but it does raise questions about Tarantino's future beyond movies. Even if Tarantino does stop at 10 movies as he says he will, that doesn't mean he won't release new projects. In addition to more stage plays, the director said in 2022 that he planned to shoot an eight-episode TV show in 2023 (which didn't end up happening), and that may or may not be different from the Bounty Law Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood spinoff show he was once developing.

In addition to a Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood extended cut, Tarantino has also teased a Cliff Booth spinoff that takes place in World War II. Few updates have emerged recently about either of these projects.

Even though Tarantino may only have one more movie left in him, TV could be an avenue that he continues to explore. In the streaming landscape of today, a limited series from a director of his caliber could make a big splash. The collective movie theater experience is a major part of every new Tarantino movie, including Reservoir Dogs through to Inglorious Basterds (2009) and The Hateful Eight (2015), with Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood marking his second highest-grossing film ever, but many streaming shows are now highly cinematic endeavors with massive budgets.

Our Take On Walken's Tarantino Comments

Walken & Tarantino Should Collaborate One More Time

With Walken clearly having a great deal of respect for Tarantino, it would be great to see the two work together one last time. Tarantino has a regular posse of actors he has worked with across a variety of films, including Jackson, Keitel, Michael Madsen, and Tim Roth, and though Walken isn't among this group, his appearance in Pulp Fiction affirms that he knows how to deliver classic Tarantino dialogue.

Many questions remain about Tarantino's final movie, including whether it will actually be his final movie, but, as Walken suggests, it would be a shame for the filmmaker to stop now. Tarantino is now 61 years old, and plenty of directors, including Ridley Scott, James Cameron, and Steven Spielberg have continued making movies into their 70s and beyond. When Tarantino's next movie does start to take shape, it certainly sounds like Walken would be open to another collaboration.

Source: AOL