While it may be a long time until we know with 100% certainty whether or not Quentin Tarantino’s tenth movie will actually be his last one, the project is nonetheless slowly coming together. In recent months, we’ve learned that the filmmaker’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood follow-up will be called The Movie Critic, take place in 1977 and is not about real-life critic Pauline Kael, but rather based on a “second-string critic” whose reviews were “a cross between early Howard Stern and what Travis Bickle might be if he were a film critic.” It was also rumored at the beginning of August that Tarantino was looking to have Bruce Willis appear in The Movie Critic, and now word’s come in that he wants to bring in another Pulp Fiction alum: John Travolta.
According to The Ankler reporter and The Hot Mic co-host Jeff Sneider, Tarantino is rumored to have roles saved in The Movie Critic for two of his former leading men. While Sneider didn’t mention if Willis, who played Butch Coolidge in the crime movie, was indeed filling one of those spots, he teased Travolta on Twitter with the below gif:
HOT RUMOR via THE HOT MIC: I hear Tarantino is saving a role in his final film THE MOVIE CRITIC for two of his former leading men. Here’s one of them… pic.twitter.com/clrRSLf5JnSeptember 18, 2023
Although John Trvolta was catapulted to fame in the 1970s through movies like Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Carrie, as well as the TV show Welcome Back, Kotter, Pulp Fiction helped revitalize his career in the mid-1990s, with the actor earning an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Vincent Vega. Travolta primarily shared screen time with Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, but he did share a brief scene with Willis where… well, I won’t spoil it in case you’ve made it this far, yet haven’t seen what some consider to be Tarantino’s best movie.
If the rumor of Tarantino wanting to include Travolta in The Movie Critic is accurate, then this will finally reunite the two for the first time since Pulp Fiction came out. Travolta’s recent film credits include The Fanatic, Paradise City and Mob Land, and his next movie lined up is Cash Out. The actor also scored an Emmy nomination for his performance as Robert Shapiro in the 2016 miniseries The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, and he starred opposite Kevin Hart in the 10-episode series Die Hart, which has been credited into a feature-length movie that’s viewable with an Amazon Prime Video subscription.
As far as Bruce Willis is concerned, the Die Hard lead retired from acting in 2022 due to being diagnosed with aphasia, which has since worsened to frontotemporal dementia. As such, his appearance in The Movie Critic would only be a cameo, and Tarantino reportedly already has a backup plan in case this isn’t possible, including a clip from one of the actor’s previous movies. It’s unclear if Travolta would also simply cameo in Tarantino’s next movie or if he’d have a bigger presence in the story.
Keep visiting CinemaBlend for more updates on how The Movie Critic is coming along, including confirmation regarding if John Travolta and/or Bruce Willis will participate in it. Look through our 2023 movie release schedule and 2024 movie release schedule to see what forthcoming cinematic entertainment catches your eye.