Quentin Tarantino is pressing pause on his storied career to focus on fatherhood, revealing that he plans to delay production on his much-anticipated final film until his 5-year-old son, Leo, is old enough to comprehend and remember it.

Speaking at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, January 27, the Pulp Fiction director, 61, shared that he’s prioritizing his role as a father over his work in Hollywood. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Tarantino said. “Next month my son turns 5, and I have a 2½-year-old daughter. When I’m in America, I’m writing. When I’m in Israel? I’m an abba, which means father.”

Tarantino explained that while he’s excited to begin his final film, he wants his children to be old enough to truly appreciate it. “The idea of jumping on a voyage when they’re too young to understand it is not enticing to me,” he said. “I kind of want to not do whatever movie I end up doing until my son is at least 6. That way he’ll know what’s going on, he’ll be there, and it will be a memory for the rest of his life.”

The director joked that his daughter, who is just 2½, “is already such a genius” that she’ll likely understand it even sooner.

Tarantino shares his two children with his wife, Daniella Pick, an Israeli singer-songwriter. The couple first met in 2009 while Tarantino was in Israel promoting Inglourious Basterds. Despite a brief split, they rekindled their romance years later and married in 2018 in an intimate ceremony in Los Angeles.

Their first child, Leo, was born in February 2020. The director previously clarified that Leo’s name was inspired by Daniella’s grandfather and the word “lion” in their hearts, not after his longtime collaborator and friend Leonardo DiCaprio. Their second child, a daughter whose name they’ve kept private, was born in July 2022.

Tarantino has frequently spoken about the joy he finds in fatherhood and his deep connection to family life. While splitting his time between Israel and the U.S., he enjoys immersing himself in family routines, which he says provide a balance to his famously intense creative process.

With ten critically acclaimed films under his belt—including Kill Bill, Django Unchained, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood—Tarantino has repeatedly stated that his next movie will be his last. While fans eagerly await his swan song, the iconic filmmaker appears content to take his time, savoring his role as a father and ensuring his final project is one his children will cherish.