The Surprise Connection Between Quentin Tarantino And Edgar Wright's Last Night In Soho

Last Night in Soho, Thomasin McKenzie in dark makeup
(Image credit: (Focus Features))

Behind the scenes, Quentin Tarantino has blessed quite a few Edgar Wright movies. The Pulp Fiction filmmaker once appeared on the DVD commentary track for Hot Fuzz, is included in the credits for Baby Driver some giving out some advice and support to the movie. When it comes to Wright’s latest movie Last Night In Soho, Tarantino has inspired a major element of the movie.

Last Night in Soho comes to theaters next month and sees Wright making a London-set horror movie starring Furiosa’s Anya Taylor-Joy and Old’s Thomasin Mackenzie. Ahead of the movie’s release, Edgar Wright has shared the major role Quentin Tarantino played in the making of the film. In his words:

In Death Proof, Quentin uses a Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich song, ‘Hold Tight’. I was talking to him about that song, and that band, and he said, ‘Have you ever heard ‘Last Night in Soho’?’ He played it for me, and he goes, ‘This is the best title music for a film that’s never been made.’

That’s right. Quentin Tarantino technically named Edgar Wright’s upcoming movie. The directors were having a conversation about music at one point and he showed the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World filmmaker a song called “Last Night In Soho,” which he felt was the best title music for a movie yet to be made. Wright shared this during an interview with Total Film. He continued to share how he named the movie:

I started amassing this playlist called ‘Soho’ that was 300 songs from the ’60s. I hadn’t thought what the film was going to be called. Then for a long time, it was called Red Light Area, but there was a film called Red Lights, with Cillian Murphy. And then I thought, ‘OK, the film is The Night Has a Thousand Eyes’. And then I looked on IMDb, and there’s already a film called Night Has a Thousand Eyes. Fuck. So then it was staring me in the face, because I’d heard this song, and I thought it was great: Last Night in Soho.

Both Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino are heavily influenced by compiling their soundtracks when making their films. Wright famously has edited his movies specifically with the music at the forefront, especially with his last film, Baby Driver. We expect a killer soundtrack out of Last Night in Soho and one important song is from Tarantino. Check it out:

According to Edgar Wright, he didn’t have the chance to tell Quentin Tarantino about the part he played in titling Last Night in Soho until later because the director was in the middle of making Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the time. When he was able to come around to telling him, Tarantino had already read about it. Wright asked Tarantino if he was “annoyed” with him for going with the title to which he responded that Wright is the only one who could make “that movie” – as in the one with the best title music ever made.

Weirdly enough, Quentin Tarantino had actually gotten the idea for “Last Night in Soho” being a great title music from someone else! He told Wright that writer, director, producer Allison Anders (Gas Food Lodging, Four Rooms, Sugar Town) had said that to him prior. So Wright has reportedly decided to thank them both in the credits and emailed Anders to thank her as well.

Anders was so over the moon about the inspiration she gave Wright a 7 inch vinyl of the song “Last Night in Soho” that Wright has added to his mantel piece. What a wild story regarding how the title will make its way to big screens! Last Night in Soho hits theaters on October 29.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.