acting

It might be a while before the world sees Quentin Tarantino’s tenth and final movie as a writer-director (if it ever happens at all, or if he’s really true to his word about retiring), but cinephiles will soon get at least one other chance to see his work.

Tarantino is returning to the big screen, but this time as an actor. Tarantino has joined the cast of director Jamie Adams‘ new film “Only What We Carry,” which recently wrapped production after a six-day shoot in Normandy, an individual with knowledge of the project told IndieWire.

Tarantino stars among the ensemble cast that also includes Simon Pegg, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Liam Hellmann, and newcomer Lizzy McAlpine. The feature film was shot with a largely improvised script, in the tradition of arthouse filmmakers like Mike Leigh and Eric Rohmer.

A prolific indie filmmaker, Adams has directed 12 features over the past decade, including festival hits like “Black Mountain Poets” and “Wild Honey Pie!”

While Tarantino is best known as a director, he has a long tradition of appearing on screen. He played supporting roles in his first two films, “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction,” before starring alongside George Clooney and Harvey Keitel in “From Dusk Till Dawn,” which he also co-wrote. He has continued to make small cameos in his own films ever since, serving as the voice of an offscreen director in both “Kill Bill” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and giving himself violent onscreen deaths in “Inglorious Basterds” and “Django Unchained.”

He occasionally pops up in other projects as well: he portrayed the character of McKenas Cole in four episodes of “Alias,” played Kermit’s director in “The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz,” and lended his voice to the Showtime series “Super Pumped.” But “Only What We Carry” will be his most significant role in someone else’s movie since the 1990s. While his future as a filmmaker continues to be uncertain, his willingness to take on the role suggests he could follow in the footsteps of Martin Scorsese and do more acting.

An official synopsis for “Only What We Carry” reads: “Julian Johns, a once-formidable instructor whose former student Charlotte Levant (Boutella) returns home to face the ghosts of her past. Joining them are Quentin Tarantino as John Percy, Julian’s old friend whose sudden arrival stirs long-buried truths; Charlotte Gainsbourg as Josephine Chabrol, Charlotte’s protective sister; Liam Hellmann as Vincent, a restless artist caught between love and loyalty, and Lizzy McAlpine, making her film debut as Jacqueline, a young aspiring dancer whose presence forces everyone to confront the weight of what they’ve left behind.”

The film is one of several new projects that Tarantino has taken on since scrapping his planned final film “The Movie Critic.” He wrote the upcoming David Fincher Netflix film “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” which sees Brad Pitt reprising his Oscar-winning role from “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.” And during a recent appearance on the “Church of Tarantino” podcast, he teased plans to mount a West End stage production in 2026.

Adams is represented by Gersh.