Quentin Tarantino and Simon Pegg to star in drama Only What We Carry
Quentin Tarantino has landed his first major on-screen role in nearly 30 years with writer-director Jamie Adams' drama Only What We Carry.
Quentin Tarantino and Simon Pegg have been cast in the drama Only What We Carry.
The 62-year-old filmmaker and the Star Trek actor, 55, are to feature in writer-director Jamie Adams’ upcoming movie, Deadline has said.
Tarantino’s part in Only What We Carry will be his biggest on-screen role since 1996’s From Dusk Till Dawn, though the director has cameoed in some of his own films like Django Unchained and Pulp Fiction.
Tarantino and Pegg will star alongside Melancholia’s Charlotte Gainsbourg, The Mummy’s Sofia Boutella, Ibiza’s Liam Hellmann and singer Lizzy McAlpine in what will be her feature debut.
Set along the rugged Normandy coastline, Only What We Carry is billed as “a meditation on love, loss, and the quiet courage it takes to move forward”.
Pegg stars as Julian Johns, “a once-formidable instructor whose former student Charlotte Levant (Boutella) returns home to face the ghosts of her past.
“Joining them are John Percy (Tarantino), Julian’s old friend whose sudden arrival stirs long-buried truths; Josephine Chabrol (Gainsbourg), Charlotte’s protective sister; Vincent (Hellmann), a restless artist caught between love and loyalty, and Jacqueline (McAlpine), a young aspiring dancer whose presence forces everyone to confront the weight of what they’ve left behind.”
Adams said in a statement: “It’s always been a dream of mine to shoot an Eric Rohmer styled picture in Normandy, a dream that included collaborating with an exceptional international ensemble cast and crew.
“It turns out that by embracing the freedoms of independent cinema, that dream has come true. I’m forever grateful to the cast and crew of Only What We Carry for this moment.”
Tarantino - who most recently cameoed in his 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - was reportedly pitched the role for Only What We Carry “through his agent because he was perfect for the part”.
Only What We Carry will be produced by Charles Benoin, Liam Hellmann and Journi Smit.
Tarantino had been working on his tenth and final film The Movie Critic, though ultimately decided to shelve the project after finding he “wasn’t really that excited” about it.
Speaking on The Church of Tarantino podcast, he said: “No one’s waiting for this thing per se. I mean, I can do it whenever I want. I mean, it’s already written. So OK, let me just not start it right now.
“Let me try writing it as a movie and let me see if it’s better that way. And I was like, ‘Oh, OK, no, I think this is going to be the movie.’ And then it wasn’t. I pulled the plug on it. And the reason I pulled the plug, it’s a little crazy.”
The Kill Bill director added he “really, really likes” The Movie Critic, but it had given him a “challenge”.
He explained: “There was a challenge that I gave to myself when I did it. Can I take the most boring profession in the world and make it an interesting movie?
“Every Tarantino title promises so much, except The Movie Critic.
“Who wants to see a TV show about a f****** movie critic? Who wants to see a movie called The Movie Critic? If I can actually make a movie or a TV show about somebody who watches movies interesting, that is an accomplishment ...
“I was so excited about the writing, but I wasn’t really that excited about dramatising what I wrote once we were in pre-production.”
