Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is a huge fan of Marvel Comics. However, during his career, he never directed a superhero movie. However, on two occasions, this dream of seeing Quentin Tarantino direct a superhero movie almost came true. Back on these two crazy projects that never saw the light of day.
Quentin Tarantino: an impressive career
It’s in 1987 Quentin Tarantino begins his career as a filmmaker with a very first film very little known to the general public: My Best Friend’s Birthday. But it was in 1992 that the American filmmaker really made himself known with Reservoir Dogs, an immensely cult work, carried by an impressive cast, whose members have agreed to work on a voluntary basis. Then, in 1994, it is the consecration. pulp Fiction receives the Palme d’Or and places Quentin Tarantino among the greats of this world. The filmmaker then went on to critical and popular success with the two volumes of Kill Bill, Inglourious Basters, Django Unchained or even more recently with Once upon a time…in Hollywood.
Still, while QT’s career is full of great movies, there are some genres he hasn’t dabbled in yet. This is for example the case of science fiction, horror cinema or still superheroic. Quentin Tarantino is a fan of comics and superheroes, but he never took the step to direct a film of the genre. However, he almost made one, on two occasions.
Quentin Tarantino and Luke Cage
Growing up, Quentin Tarantino has collected many comics, especially stories produced by Marvel Comics. He has revealed in the past to be a die-hard fan of Shang-Chi, but especially of Luke Cage. Early in his film career, Quentin Tarantino was keen on developing a movie around Luke Cage, the man with the indestructible skin. At the time, the character’s film rights were scattered among many studios, which made his adaptation very complicated. In the late 1990s, the film rights to Luke Cage belonged to Ed Pressmanthe man behind the adaptations of The Crow and Judge Dredd. Quentin Tarantino even met the said producer.
Ed Pressman was interested in the idea of producing a Luke Cage movie directed by Quentin Tarantino. The latter had even already chosen his actor and wanted Laurence Fishburne be the face of the vigilante. But his relatives and Ed Pressman saw more Wesley Snipes as the superhero. Faced with this hesitation, Quentin Tarantino preferred not to decide, and left for other horizons by staging pulp Fiction. Ultimately, it will be necessary to wait until 2016 to see Mike Colter become the face of Luke Cage in the eponymous Netflix series. As for Wesley Snipes, he embodied another Marvel character: Blade.
Quentin Tarantino and the Silver Surfer
If the story of Luke Cage is famous enough, there is another much less known one. Indeed, Quentin Tarantino also wanted direct a film about the Silver Surfer. Huge fan of the cosmic hero, QT has already paid tribute to him in Reservoir Dogsbecause Tim Roth’s character has a Herald of Galactus poster in his room. Immediately after the success of Reservoir DogsQuentin Tarantino wrote a 500-page script for a solo film The Silver Surfer, which he presented to the Constantin Film studio. Unfortunately for Tarantino, the company preferred to turn to Roger Carman who produced the infamous movie Fantastic Four In 1994.
At the time, Constantin Film considered that Quentin Tarantino’s career was not substantial enough to follow up on his request. In the end, therefore, we will have to wait until 2007 to see the Silver Surfer at the cinema, in Fantastic Four and the Silver Surferplayed by Doug Jones. As for Quentin Tarantino, he ultimately did not make any superhero movies. And while he doesn’t have to stage anymore only one film before retiring, we strongly doubt that he chooses a film of this type to conclude his career as a director. Shame…