Quentin Tarantino Inspired Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho

Director Edgar Wright‘s Last Night in Soho is, like all of his films, the product of a wide array of influences, from the sounds and sights of London in the Swinging Sixties to the Italian giallo thrillers made by directors like Mario Bava and Dario Argento. Wright wears a lot of his inspirations on his sleeve, but what some film fans might not know is that a key piece of the Last Night in Soho puzzle came from a chat with one of Wright’s peers.

The plot and look of the film (now streaming on SYFY), which follows an aspiring fashion designer (Thomasin McKenzie) who finds herself transported into the life of a singer (Anya Taylor-Joy) in 1960s London, came from Wright, but the title was a little harder to nail down. That’s where Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino came in.

How Quentin Tarantino gave Last Night in Soho its name

Though the film wasn’t released until 2021, the story of Last Night in Soho actually goes back more than a decade before it was produced, back in the late 2000s. Around that time, Wright was invited to contribute one of the fake trailers — Don’t, a Hammer-inspired thriller short — for Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse project.

In an interview with Total Film, Wright explained that his 2021 film’s eventual title came from a conversation with Tarantino during the Grindhouse era, specifically about a song used in Tarantino’s Death Proof.

“In Death Proof, Quentin uses a Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich song, ‘Hold Tight’,” Wright explained. “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.’”

The song title, and Tarantino’s remark about its promise as a movie title, inspired Wright, and he added the tune to a playlist he’d been building of 60s pop music, which he dubbed “Soho.” The playlist ran to hundreds of songs, but Wright kept thinking about “Last Night in Soho” in particular, especially when his original titles didn’t pan out. He’d originally planned to call the film Red Light Area, then learned about a film called Red Lights and thought that sounded too similar. After that, Wright retitled his story The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, only to search around and find another film with the same title. 

“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,” Wright said.

Though he’d found the perfect title, Wright was a little worried that his fellow director might be miffed that he’d borrowed the idea to use the song, and the name, for himself. A conversation with Tarantino eventually smoothed those worries over, and pointed to another filmmaker as the original source of the idea: Allison Anders, the writer/director best known for indie classics like Gas Food Lodging and Mi Vida Loca. 

“Quentin was deep into Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, so I hadn’t really had time to tell him,” Wright recalled. “And then it was in the trades. I said, ‘Hey, did you hear what my movie’s called?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I read it.’ I said, ‘Are you annoyed with me?’ He goes, ‘You know what? Only you could make that movie.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m going to thank you on the end credits for giving me the song.’ He goes, ‘OK, but I’ve got to fess up now. What I said about it being the best end-credits song for a movie that doesn’t exist, is something that [writer, director, producer] Allison Anders used to say. So if you credit me, you’ve also got to credit her.’”

Indeed, both Tarantino and Anders appear under the Special Thanks section of the Last Night in Soho credits. And according to Total Film, Anders even reached out with a thank you gift, as Wright later tweeted: “I told Allison Anders that I had taken indirect inspiration from her via Quentin Tarantino and thanked her in the end credits,” Wright said. “She was thrilled and sent me a 7-inch of the song in question. Which is so lovely of her. It’s on my mantel piece.”

Sometimes all it takes to find the perfect title is a little help from some fellow legendary filmmakers.

Last Night in Soho is now streaming on the SYFY Movies Hub.