Throughout his illustrious (and often controversial) career, Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has often promised movies that didn’t end up happening. Each new release is always an event, however, and it’s likely for this reason that fans are so forgiving of the acclaimed filmmaker when he fails to deliver on past promises.
Still, between the early days of being a film festival wunderkind with the low-budget Reservoir Dogs, to his most recent Oscar-winning work, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, Tarantino has come to understand that if he can conceive of it, he can create it. With three decades of filmmaking under his belt, audiences have come to know just what an event it is to receive a new Tarantino movie. Ideas have always seemed to come fast and furious to the award-laden auteur, and all too often fans have been drawn into the sort of public brainstorming that Tarantino has become known for. This is by no means a bad thing - in fact, it’s only through his willingness to provide insight into his career that anyone at all knows about Tarantino's plans to retire after directing his 10th movie.
As rumors continue to circulate with regard to what Tarantino’s self-proclaimed final film will be - or if, in fact, the director sticks to his guns and takes a final bow sooner rather than later, it’s worth looking at the list of projects that have at one time or another been teased by Tarantino, but which ultimately failed to materialize. Some very ambitious stuff has been considered over the years, with everything from a Marvel film to an attempt at James Bond discussed - all of which just wasn’t to be.
Years before the popular Marvel hero was ever associated with Netflix, Tarantino was fixated on the idea of adapting his own cinematic take. Though his initial plan was to get the project off the ground after Reservoir Dogs, he ran into trouble when friends unanimously disagreed with his number one choice to play Cage - Laurence Fishburne. This was the early 1990s, and at the time, Tarantino’s friends all felt that Wesley Snipes was the go to man for action. Reportedly, Tarantino was so turned off by the constant disagreement with his lead actor choice that he eventually lost interest in the project. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, of course, because in place of a Luke Cage adaptation, Tarantino got to work on bringing Pulp Fiction to life.
Having given a Vega brother character to both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Tarantino later began to speak about the idea of a Pulp Fiction prequel called Double V Vega. During Vincent’s time managing an Amsterdam club for Marcellus Wallace, his brother Victor turns up and the two spend a weekend together. This was the extent of Tarantino’s premise for Double V Vega, and while any Tarantino fan knows that something interesting could have been made out of this, the project was abandoned partly due to the fact that neither Michael Madsen nor John Travolta could now play a younger version of themselves.
For fans of the 007 franchise as well as of Tarantino, the idea of a James Bond film written and directed by the filmmaker would be a dream come true. And, for a while after the release of Kill Bill, it genuinely seemed as though it might be a possibility. Tarantino expressed strong interest in making a Casino Royale film, even going as far as meeting with producers of the famed spy series. He was keen on Pierce Brosnan returning to the role of Bond (something that might not have gone over well with many 007 fans), but ultimately, Tarantino’s vision of Bond didn’t match that of the producers and the relationship ended soon after it began. Tarantino later went on to claim that the producers were scared he’d make his film too good and ruin the series.
Of all of Tarantino’s so-called abandoned projects, a third Kill Bill film is still not completely out of the question. As recently as December 2019, the director was saying that Kill Bill 3 was still a possibility. It’s hard to say if this will actually happen, considering the fact that if Tarantino intends to stick to his 10-film mandate, Kill Bill 3 would be his final work. Many fans are certainly eager to see a third film in the revenge series, particularly because this film would likely see a full grown version of Vernita Green’s daughter pursue The Bride. Time will tell what happens, but for now at least, many remain dubious that this film will ever materialize.
After the success of Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino began to publicly toy with the idea of making an excised section of the original Inglourious Basterds script. Killer Crow’s story involved a platoon of black soldiers who have been court-martialed and are due to be hanged in London. In typical QT fashion, the plot focused heavily on revenge, as the black soldiers escape and seek out the white officers one by one, meeting up with the Basterds in the process. After building the idea up for some time, Tarantino eventually backed off of it, claiming that it would need another polish before it could ever see the light of day.
Tarantino has recently acknowledged that if he could come up with a “terrific” concept, he’d love to make a horror film. It is indeed an ideal genre for someone with Tarantino’s exceptional skill set, but to date the gore-loving filmmaker has not mentioned anything further about a potential plot. As unfortunate of a reality as it is, this is a rumored project that more likely than not arose out of Tarantino verbalizing his options, rather than focusing on any specific film idea.
As close to a concrete example of what a Tarantino-made horror film might look like, The Psychic is a 1977 psychological thriller from Italian director Lucio Fulci. The idea of remaking it came about during what seems to have been a wildly creative spell for Tarantino, during the mid 2000s. The film’s plot deals with a clairvoyant woman who realizes that there is a skeleton interned inside a wall in her husband’s apartment. Given that Tarantino still hasn’t purchased the rights to the film as well as the amount of time that has passed since he last referenced it, this appears to be yet another project that the acclaimed director has left buried in the past.
Cited by Tarantino as his “favorite American who ever lived”, John Brown was an abolitionist who advocated violent insurrection against slavery, and was later hanged for treason as a result. Talk of making a biopic on the historical figure began just before Django Unchained was made, and Tarantino seemed to have gotten the concept out of his system after finishing the Oscar-winning western. However, given his undying love for westerns, whether or not this project could one day become a reality arguably remains a possibility. For now, though, over a decade has passed without any real updates from Tarantino, which likely means it’s a no-go.
For many Tarantino fans, the desire to see the filmmaker take on any sort of romantic genre is hardly a priority. Yet for a brief period, Tarantino mused on the possibility of making an “erotic” film set in Stockholm and modeled after 1970s era softcore sex films. The premise involved a group of Americans visiting friends in Sweden with an apparent erotic twist. Oddly enough, it wasn’t for lack of story that this project hasn’t been a priority for Tarantino - rather, the esteemed filmmaker didn’t like the idea of having to place emphasis on what he finds erotic or answering questions from journalists regarding what he finds erotic.
Back in 2012, Tarantino revealed that he intended to “someday” make a 1930s-style gangster movie. Few doubted that this could indeed be a real possibility, given Tarantino’s past experience with the crime genre. Unfortunately, ever since publicly stating his interest in making a gangster film, nothing has materialized. It could still be on its way, but Tarantino’s method for choosing his next project has all too often been sudden and unexpected, rather than taking on ideas from far back into the past.
Based on author Len Deighton’s three-part spy series which included Berlin Game, Mexico Set and London Match, Tarantino has previously expressed interest in big screen adaptations of the novels. The books follow the efforts of British secret agent Bernard Samson, and Tarantino said he was drawn to the casting possibilities of English and German characters. It wouldn’t be unusual for Tarantino to want to take on something this large in scope. However, the fact that he intends to retire after 10 films, as well as the stories not being his own original creations, means that The Game, Set and Match trilogy probably isn’t a real option.
Once again the lure of the western plays a role in Tarantino’s rumored project slate. Had he committed to this adaptation, it would have marked the second Elmore Leonard novel (after Jackie Brown), that Tarantino had taken on. Talk of adapting Leonard’s western began shortly after Kill Bill’s release, and the rights to the novel are still owned by Tarantino. However, over time the project went from being a potential film to a television mini-series. At the present moment it’s unclear what the final fate for 40 Lashes Less One will be, but the likelihood of it being adapted for the big screen by Tarantino is not very strong.
For some, this is the ultimate title on a Tarantino wish list; an R-rated Star Trek film, done in the director’s own inimitable style rather than following the Kelvin timeline. Adamant about doing his own thing with the iconic space franchise, for a brief period it looked as if a Tarantino Star Trek film (with a script by The Revenant writer Mark Smith) was actually going to happen. Unfortunately for Star Trek fans, Tarantino seemed to have closed the door on the option at the end of last year. Stating that he’s “steering away from Star Trek”, it looks like the idea of a Tarantino Star Trek film is being abandoned, but for what remains to be seen.
As these various projects have shown, Tarantino’s creativity has always been hugely ambitious. All great filmmakers have a backlog of ideas and projects that seem ideal, but ultimately, for one reason or another, just didn’t get made. Tarantino is no different in this respect, but while fans may bemoan the fact that the above films likely will never be made, whatever Tarantino does end up making almost always manages to make all of us instantly forget about the work that wasn’t made.
