Quentin Tarantino explained, in a new interview, why his potential Luke Cage movie never happened. The iconic director roared back into the forefront of filmmaking over the past year with the release of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which earned 10 Oscar nominations and scored wins for Best Production Design and Best Supporting Actor for Brad Pitt. During his press tour for his previous film, The Hateful Eight, Tarantino revealed that Luke Cage was among the characters he considered bringing to the big screen.
Marvel Studios brought Luke Cage to a more mainstream audience in recent years with the acclaimed Netflix show, which got canceled over reported creative differences after just two seasons. But that exposure could have come in the early '90s when Tarantino would have been riding high off the success of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. The Luke Cage movie ultimately didn't happen, but Tarantino gave a surprising reason why.
Tarantino shed more light on his decision not to make a movie based on the original Luke Cage: Hero for Hire comic, and what led to it in an interview with comedian Amy Schumer on her podcast Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith. It wasn't about dealings with Marvel or complications in the industry. He just let his comic book buddies talk him out of it after he told them he was dead-set on casting Laurence Fishburne, whom he regarded as highly as any actor at the time. "All my friends were like, ‘No, no, no, man, it’s got to be Wesley Snipes,’" Tarantino said. "And I go, ‘Well look, I like Wesley Snipes, but I mean, Larry Fishburne is practically Marlon Brando. I mean, I think 'Fish' is the man.’"
Tarantino said his idea for Luke Cage came between completing Reservoir Dogs and beginning production on Pulp Fiction. To give an idea of how long ago he got talked out of the idea, his friends preferred Snipes because of the actor's superhero physique and massive star power at the time. The whole argument ended up ruining the very notion of putting Fishburne in the role of Luke Cage in the first place.
Fishburne wasn't exactly a nobody at the time, either. He had recently appeared in Boyz n the Hood, The Color Purple, and Tarantino's inspiration for wanting him to be Luke Cage, King of New York. Fishburne also went on to prove himself as an action star as Morpheus in the Matrix trilogy. It's endlessly fascinating to think about what Tarantino's vision of Luke Cage would have been like, especially if it were made in place of Jackie Brown. And it's also fair to wonder how Tarantino's filmmaking trajectory would have changed had he moved forward with the project instead of abandoning it.
At the same time, it's clear at this point that a Tarantino Luke Cage movie would have been a distinctly Tarantino experience, and not the same kind of movie seen over the past decade-plus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It would have divided fans like few other comic book movies in history. The same thing would have happened if he ended up making a Halloween movie. But based on both Tarantino and Fishburne's bodies of work, a Luke Cage movie certainly would have been a memorable ride and one of Fishburne's most famous roles.
Source: Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith
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