The iconic sci-fi movie Quentin Tarantino turned down
From an early age, Quentin Tarantino expressed a keen interest in the world of cinema. Watching movies such as Deliverance as a child inspired the budding filmmaker to write his own scripts, and by the time he was 14, he had penned his first screenplay, Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit.
Taking inspiration from 1977’s Smokey and the Bandit, starring Burt Reynolds, Tarantino’s first attempt at writing a screenplay set the tone for his future work, which often refers back to classic cinema. A deep love of movies informs the filmmaker’s oeuvre, aided by his near-encyclopaedic knowledge of the medium. Before his filmmaking career took off, Tarantino worked in a video store, where he gathered extensive knowledge of cinema from across the globe.
Tarantino once told BBC News, “When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, ‘No, I went to films.'” Evidently, the filmmaker’s career is indebted to a legion of other creatives who came before him, inspiring him to become one of his generation’s most significant moviemakers. He released his first feature, Reservoir Dogs, in 1992, a landmark of independent filmmaking. The movie welcomed Tarantino’s signature style of clever, witty dialogue and stylised violence, gearing him up for an even more successful follow-up, Pulp Fiction.
The cult crime comedy-drama earned seven Academy Award nominations, with Tarantino scooping up the ‘Best Original Screenplay’ accolade. Pulp Fiction also won the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival, as well as multiple awards from organisations such as the BAFTAs and Golden Globes. The movie might have been an independent production, but Tarantino was now firmly thrust into the mainstream.
With writing credits on films like Tony Scott’s True Romance and Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers elevating Tarantino’s status higher, he was soon offered the chance to direct some of Hollywood’s biggest productions. Believe it or not, Tarantino was asked to helm one of the highest-grossing movies of 1997 – Men in Black.
The science-fiction comedy, which starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, doesn’t seem like something the Reservoir Dogs creator would direct. You only have to watch a few minutes of a Tarantino flick to glean that his violent movies aren’t suitable for children, whereas Men in Black was a family-friendly action romp. The director was offered the chance to direct the film, as was John Landis. However, they both opted out, leaving the producers to wait for their first choice, Barry Sonnenfeld, to become available.
Once Sonnenfeld wrapped up filming on Get Shorty, he directed Men in Black, which earned the third highest-grossing opening weekend of all time, racking in $51.1million. Instead, Tarantino released Jackie Brown that year, a tribute to blaxploitation films – a rather sharp contrast to the alien-themed Men in Black.
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