Tom Cruise Rumored to Appear in Quentin Tarantino's Final Film

A certain Hollywood icon could end up being a part of Quentin Tarantino's final movie. According to Jeff Sneider, there is a possibility that Tom Cruise could make an appearance in The Movie Critic, the forthcoming final film project directed by Quentin Tarantino. The report claims that Cruise could either cameo or have some sort of small role in The Movie Critic, and is currently shifting around his schedule to film the part around or after reshoots for Mission: Impossible 8. While Cruise's involvement in The Movie Critic certainly isn't confirmed, the possibility of the Top Gun and Mission: Impossible star appearing in Tarantino's final movie will certainly delight some.

What Is The Movie Critic About?

The Movie Critic, which does not yet have a distributor, is believed to be set in southern California during the 1970s and center on a cynical male film reviewer. Tarantino has claimed that The Movie Critic is based on an obscure real-life figure, debunking rumors that the film could be about legendary movie critic Pauline Kael, who wrote for The New Yorker from 1968 until her retirement in 1991. Tarantino has previously expressed a reverence for Kael, including in the 2018 documentary What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael. Brad Pitt, who previously starred in Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, is reported to star in The Movie Critic in some capacity.

"[It is] based on a guy who really lived, but was never really famous, and he used to write movie reviews for a porno rag." Tarantino explained in a 2023 interview. "He wrote about mainstream movies and he was the second-string critic. I think he was a very good critic. He was as cynical as hell. His reviews were a cross between early Howard Stern and what Travis Bickle [from Taxi Driver] might be if he were a film critic ... Think about Travis's diary entries. But the porno rag critic was very, very funny. He was very rude, you know. He cursed. He used racial slurs. But his sh-t was really funny. He was as rude as hell."

Why Is The Movie Critic Quentin Tarantino's Last Movie?

Over the years, Tarantino has been vocal about wanting his filmography to end with ten movies (or eleven, depending on whether you regard Kill Bill as one movie or two). Although there is no current confirmation that he will retire from the industry completely after The Movie Critic, he has hinted at the significance of stopping his career at that point. 

"If you think about the idea of all the movies telling one story and each film is like a train boxcar connected to each other, this one would sort of be the big show-stopping climax of it all," Tarantino explained in a 2019 interview. "And I could imagine that the 10th one would be a little more epilogue-y."

What do you think of Tom Cruise potentially joining The Movie Critic? Do you hope the potential cameo becomes a reality? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!