“My Absolute Hero”: Quentin Tarantino really wanted to direct a Marvel movie!

For more than three decades Quentin Tarantino resisted the temptation to make a franchise film – and it will probably stay that way: the cult director is currently working on his tenth (depending on how you count) and, by his own admission, last film with ‘The Movie Critic’.

But since Tarantino’s (real) directorial debutReservoir dogs(1992), there are significantly more projects that were never realized than films that were actually made. If Tarantino were to make them all, that would certainly be enough for two more careers. But it seems fans will have to make do with ‘what if?’ mind games – especially when it comes to the numerous film franchises Tarantino discusses.

What would a ‘James Bond’ film from the ‘Kill Bill’ director look like? What would the 60-year-old have thought of “Star Trek”? And How can you imagine a Tarantino superhero movie?

Quentin Tarantino’s third directorial would be a Marvel film

Flashback: After “Reservoir Dogs” was well received by audiences and critics alike, many doors were open for Tarantino. One of his favorite projects from that era could have steered the career of the creator of “Inglourious Basterds” in completely different directions: before making “Pulp Fiction,” one of the definitive classics of the 90s, Tarantino actually planned to bring Marvel superhero Luke Cage to the big screen – and he had already found his ideal cast in Laurence Fishburne (“The Matrix”).

On Amy Schumer’s podcast “Tarantino talked about “Luke Cage” and his love for Marvel comics. “There was a time before all this Marvel shit came out,” the filmmaker said. “It was after ‘Reservoir Dogs,’ it was before ‘Pulp Fiction,’ and I was thinking about doing ‘Luke Cage.’ I was a huge comic collector as a kid, and two of my favorite comics of all time were ‘Luke Cage.’ comics. I also liked ‘Werewolf By Night’ and ‘Tomb Of Dracula’, but My absolute hero was Luke Cage.”

It would have had no impact on the making of “Pulp Fiction” if Tarantino had chosen to direct “Luke Cage.” However, his third film might never have been made: “Jackie Brown,” his only novel adaptation to date – and not only one of his most underrated, but, in the opinion of the author of these lines, also his best directorial work. But then why didn’t ‘Luke Cage’ happen?

“What actually held me back was that my comic book friends talked me out of it,” Tarantino explained in the podcast. “Because I felt like Larry Fishburne would be the perfect guy to play Luke Cage. And I’m talking about Fishburne from the ‘King Of New York’ era [ein Gangsterfilm von Abel Ferrara, Anm. d. Red.]

But all my friends said: ‘No, no, listen, it has to be done Wesley Snipes are!’ And I thought, ‘Look, I love Wesley Snipes, but Larry Fishburne is practically Marlon Brando. I think Fish is the man.” And they replied: ‘Yes, but he has to get in shape first. Snipes is already like this!’ And I say, ‘Fuck it! That’s not that important! Fuck you, you ruined the whole damn thing! ”

You can be grateful that “Jackie Brown” exists, but it’s still an interesting question. how it might have affected the superhero genre if Tarantino had combined his ultra-concise style with a Marvel epic. And unlike today, this would have been very conceivable in the 1990s:

As you can see in Sam Raimi’s “Darkman” or Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns”, directors were able to implement their own directorial vision even within the framework of franchise blockbusters – in times of streamlined monotony of the comic universe, when there is hardly There are aesthetic differences between the series and the film that are difficult to imagine.

Incidentally, Wesley Snipes later actually played a Marvel role in the vampiric superhero ‘Blade’, while ‘Luke Cage’ never made its way to theaters (but ended up in a series format on Netflix in 2016).

Tarantino and Laurence Fishburne have not met to this day: the actor turned down the role of Jules Winnfield in ‘Pulp Fiction’ – which in turn marked the beginning of the long-term artistic collaboration between Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson.