The five most exciting movies Quentin Tarantino never made
One of Hollywood’s most recognisable auteurs, Quentin Tarantino, has always been obsessed with his own legacy. His intense love of cinema has led him to strive for perfection, even if he has to go to extreme lengths to get there. He’s put his actors in dangerous situations, such as Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, and created strict on-set rules, including no phones and no sleeping.
Tarantino wants his filmography to be perfect, allowing him to become one of cinema’s most acclaimed names. So far, most of his movies have achieved high acclaim, although they’ve all been made from a place of great personal interest in the characters and storyline. The director has never compromised his artistic integrity for a film, turning down lucrative projects such as Men in Black in favour of projects he’s penned himself from original ideas.
Over the years, the filmmaker has stated that he wants to make ten movies (counting Kill Bill Vol 1 and Vol 2 and one movie). Thus, he’s been incredibly selective with the titles he’s chosen, recently announcing that he’ll be ditching The Film Critic, which was meant to be his final film. It was set to follow a guy who writes movie reviews for a page in a porno magazine in the ‘70s, with Tarantino revealing that the character would be foul-mouthed but really entertaining.
However, that’s not the only movie he’s cancelled in his time. He’s expressed interest in many movies which have never come to fruition, some being ditched after hundreds of pages of scriptwriting and others simply abandoned before he could even write his ideas down. He’s expressed interest in making everything from horror to a family film; here are five of the most exciting Tarantino projects which never came to fruition.
Five unrealised Quentin Tarantino movies:
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! remake
Russ Meyer’s exploitation classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! has been a favourite of Tarantino’s for some time. It’s camp, violent, sexy and outrageously fun, with some calling it an unintentional feminist classic, while others deride it as the ultimate male gaze fantasy movie. Tarantino has also expressed his love for lead actor Tura Satana in the past, calling her his favourite female actor.
In 2008, he showed interest in directing a remake, reportedly working with Satana to write the movie. It would be interesting to see how he’d remake it, although it is arguable that it doesn’t need redoing in the first place. Still, you can’t help but be intrigued by his casting ideas: Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears, Eva Mendes and even Tera Patrick, a real porn star. It would either be amazing or absolutely terrible.
Double V Vega
Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction remain some of Tarantino’s best-loved works. These movies, his first two directorial efforts, established his iconic filmmaking style while also highlighting him as a vital name in the industry. With these movies, he helped to transform the Hollywood model, allowing independent filmmakers to gain significant prominence for the first time since the ‘70s.
Because these two movies were incredibly successful, Tarantino had the idea to make a prequel film that combined two of the characters—John Travolta’s Vince Vega (Pulp Fiction) and his brother, Michael Madsen’s Vic Vega (Reservoir Dogs). The movie was going to be called Double V Vega, but it sadly never got into the developmental stage.
Untitled medieval movie starring Helen Mirren
A Tarantino movie set in the medieval era sounds like heaps of fun. His signature style would be at odds with the time period, yet this clash could work incredibly well if executed properly. The filmmaker was interested in making a movie set in England with Helen Mirren playing a ruthless and vulgar queen – something we’d love to see.
Whispers of the project emerged in 2010, and Mirren was reportedly down to work with Tarantino for the first time. Sadly, nothing came of the project. Not only would it be the first time Tarantino made a movie set in England, but it would also see him work with a time period so far removed from what he’s used to.
A horror movie
The filmmaker has expressed a deep love for sci-fi and horror many times, particularly old B-movies. Yet, he’s never dabbled in either genre, which is actually rather surprising. A Tarantino horror sounds like the perfect addition to his filmography – it would surely be a twisted tale of equal parts horror and comedy.
Tarantino revealed in 2014 that he was thinking about making a sci-fi horror with slasher elements, drawing inspiration from filmmakers like John Carpenter. The filmmaker ultimately realised that his writing style wasn’t the best suited for the horror genre.
Westworld remake
Before the 1973 movie Westworld inspired the highly successful HBO series of the same name, Tarantino was on board to direct a remake. The original movie, directed by Michael Crichton, was hugely influential, using innovative special effects that helped it secure a place in cinema history.
Tarantino was actually hired by Warner Bros to direct the film with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the leading role. Yet, it feels like no surprise that Tarantino struggled to get on board with a project that heavily relied on a pre-existing movie, and he was eventually fired.
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