Shane Gillis finally addresses big Quentin Tarantino casting rumor 

Comedian Shane Gillis has finallt addressed the rumors that he will be leading Quentin Taratino’s final film before retirement.

After nine blockbuster hits like the Kill Bill series and Pulp Fiction, Oscar Award winning director Quentin Taratino is setting out to make his tenth and final film.

Taratino confirmed in 2023 that his tenth film — titled The Movie Critic— will be his last before retirement and announced that it will be shot in his home state of California.

However, while not much is known about the film’s script, some rumors have swirled about who could be the potential lead for Taratino’s swan song and comedian Shane Gillis was floated as the frontrunner. And now, for the first time, Gillis actually addressed if he will be the leading man in the last film Taratino may ever make.

Gillis lays rumors of Taratino lead casting to rest

The rumor that Gillis would be tapped to be the director’s last leading man came when an industry insider shared a screenshot of an email sent to the popular gossip site DeuxMoi.

In the email, an anonymous source claimed that Taratino was considering an Emmy Award winning actor before the writers’ strike, but decided to cast Gillis instead.

The big hint that Gillis was the “prickly recent SNL host” named in the email was due to his tense history with the show as SNL originally fired Gillis from his cast member position in 2019 after some of his racist and homophobic remarks resurfaced, but invited the comedian back to host in early 2024.

As other industry insiders kept the spark of the rumor alive, Gillis finally addressed the casting decision during an episode of Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast where, during some ad reading at 28:55, he says, “Also, check out Quentin Taratino’s tenth and final movie. I have the lead role in it…no I don’t!”

McGillis isn’t the only name that’s been floated for the leading role as many believe the “Emmy winner” cited in the email is in reference to actor Paul Walter Hauser, who won an Emmy in 2022 for his role in the mini series Black Bird.

However, Taratino has not confirmed Hauser for the role either and sources close to Taratino have stated that the director claims the lead actor “could be very surprising — more surprising than Hauser, despite being a more known name.”