With cameras set to roll on Quentin Tarantino’s The Movie Critic this year, it’s only a matter of time before we find out who will play the titular character. A handful of names have circled the role, like Paul Walter Hauser, but that one fell apart due to last year’s industry strikes. Now, the latest is Shane Gillis, the stand-up comedian who was sacked from Saturday Night Live before even making it to air.
Of course, nothing has been confirmed over who will play the lead in The Movie Critic at this point, and it could all go away just as quickly as Shane Gillis’ stint on SNL. As you might remember, Gillis was hired and fired within one week back in 2019, when it was discovered that he had used racist and homophobic slurs on his podcast the year prior. He would later host SNL just this February, with his fame as a comedian actually skyrocketing since the firing. On the firing, Gillis stated in part, “I’m a comedian who was funny enough to get SNL. That can’t be taken away. Of course I wanted an opportunity to prove myself at SNL, but I understand it would be too much of a distraction. I respect the decision they made. I’m honestly grateful for the opportunity. I was always a Mad TV guy anyway.” Well, Rick Dalton did once appear on the cover of MAD magazine…
But that’s not the only reason Gillis would be a controversial choice to lead The Movie Critic. He’s also not an actor. Gillis has a handful of onscreen credits and must have had some sort of presence and charisma to get a spot on SNL, but leading a major motion picture, especially The Movie Critic, just doesn’t seem like part of Gillis’s skill set. Either Tarantino really sees something in this guy that makes him think he could carry such an important film or this will all get debunked in due time. The lead character in The Movie Critic is said to be in his mid-30s (which Gillis is) and having been inspired by a guy who wrote reviews for a porno magazine.
The Movie Critic is set to be Tarantino’s cinematic swan song. No one knows too much else about the film, other than the fact that Brad Pitt is going to be in it, but not playing the title role. Some (well, us) have guessed that he could be playing Cliff Booth again, as according to the continuity Tarantino himself set in his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novelization, Booth would be around in the late seventies, still doing stunts for Rick Dalton.
How would you feel about Shane Gillis starring in The Movie Critic? Who do you actually want to lead QT’s 10th and final film? Let us know below!
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