The classic sci-fi movie Quentin Tarantino refused to direct: “I never even read it”
One thing that’s never interested Quentin Tarantino as a filmmaker is fantasy, even though he doesn’t have a problem with the genre as an audience member.
All of the writer and director’s nine features to date have either been set in a tangible or slightly heightened reality, and he’s never felt the need to throw caution to the wind and branch out into far-fetched tales of intergalactic conflict or swords and sorcery.
Of course, there was the lengthy period where he constantly teased an R-rated Star Trek movie, but at no point did it ever come particularly close to happening. As tends to be the case with a lot of the things Tarantino never actually gets around to making, he sounded passionate about the idea, even if there was little chance he’d end up stepping behind the camera and helming his first-ever sci-fi flick.
The two-time Academy Award winner is a massive fan of John Carpenter’s Dark Star, harboured distant dreams of making his very own Godzilla picture, loved The Matrix before the sequels ruined his enjoyment of the franchise, and toed the party line by accepting Robert Zemeckis’ seminal Back to the Future as of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made.
He flirted with the prospect of teaming up with Arnold Schwarzenegger to take a crack at reinventing Michael Crichton’s Westworld in the 1990s, and that wasn’t even the only high-concept tale that landed on his desk during the decade. Tarantino could have taken the reins on one of the most purely enjoyable and pulpy cosmic capers of the 30 years, but he couldn’t have been less interested.
“The other real big movie offered to me was Men in Black,” Tarantino admitted to The New York Times when reflecting on the films he’d knocked back, which included fellow ’90s favourite Speed. “I never even read it.” Clearly, it didn’t tickle his fancy, but that placed him firmly in the minority when the Barry Sonnenfeld-directed version of the story sailed past half a billion dollars at the box office.
As bizarre as it sounds, there’s an alternate timeline out there somewhere where Tarantino was the guy helping the suit-clad agents protect the planet from the scum of the universe, and there’s even a scenario where David Schwimmer and Chris O’Donnell played the lead roles. Obviously, it wouldn’t be the same film if those were the folks leading the charge, but that doesn’t make it any less fascinating to think about.
Since Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino has admirably stuck to his guns and resisted the urge to chase the money and become a hired studio gun, some uncredited script polishing aside. Still, the prospect of the Pulp Fiction mastermind taking on Men in Black would be a sight to behold, even if the end result would have been a completely different movie.
Never Miss A Take
The Far Out Quentin Tarantino Newsletter
All the latest Quentin Tarantino content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.