Quentin Tarantino has today confirmed that his next project, following up on the success of Django Unchained, will be another Western. In an interview with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, the exploitation loving director confirmed that he wants to stay within the same genre as Django, because he got so much out of it.
"I can't say that much about it, but I will say one thing. I haven't told anyone about this publicly, but I will say the genre. It's a western. It's not a Django sequel, but it's another Western. I had so much fun doing Django and I love westerns so much, that after I taught myself how to make one, it's like 'OK, now let me make another one now that I know what I'm doing.'"
So, no return for the eponymous hero of Tarantino's last project - or not obviously so anyway: given Tarantino's infamous tendency to link his films in one complex universe, bridged by familial relationships, and occasionally characters who appear in multiple projects, we might see a return for someone from the Django world. It's nice to see anything like a concrete statement of intent from the director, though it would perhaps be a little foolish to invest full belief in his comments, since we've not yet seen the third Kill Bill film, or the Reservoir Dogs/Pulp Fiction prequel project, or the proposed Inglourious Basterds spin-off. Tarantino's commitment to the genre is something of a contradiction of his recent comments about the value of genre-jumping:
"When I make a film I am hoping to reinvent the genre a little bit. I just do it my way. I make my own little Quentin versions of them... I consider myself a student of cinema. It's almost like I am going for my professorship in cinema and the day I die is the day I graduate. It is a lifelong study."
Strictly speaking, Django Unchained is not a Western film - it is more like a Westsploitation film, but there were certainly elements that fit the bill - though to be frank, we're more likely to see more cliches and tropes from Tarantino's film-making world, than from the original Western genre, so inward does his camera lens point these days. Are you happy to see Tarantino making another Western? Share your thoughts below.