Before Mary Elizabeth Winstead played the roles of comic book-based Ramona Flowers and John McClane’s daughter, she starred as Lee Montgomery in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof. At the time, Winstead was making her mark in the horror slasher genre, even leading the ensemble cast of Final Destination 3. When she got the audition call for Death Proof, Winstead pulled off one little trick to get past the audition stage.
Winstead shared that she wore flip-flops to the audition to tap into the director’s alleged cinematic foot fetish. The Fargo actress managed to impress Tarantino with her take on Lee, rather than use her foot to get cast in the film.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead Attempted One Trick To Get Cast In Quentin Tarantino’s Worst Film
Death Proof was Quentin Tarantino‘s homage to the B-grade Grindhouse films and the film was released along with Robert Rodriguez‘s Planet Terror as a double feature. Even Tarantino himself admitted that it was the worst film in his reputed filmography. During THR’s Director’s Roundtable, the Django Unchained director revealed that if Death Proof was the worst he ever got, he was a good director.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead put in her best efforts to star in the acclaimed director’s film. When her agent got her an audition for the role of Lee Montgomery, she flew to New York where she was supposed to meet Tarantino. However, a last-minute change in location led her to take another flight back to L.A. For Winstead, it was important to meet the director at the earliest before any other girls got in his head as Lee.
However, Winstead went the distance and tried a little trick to exploit Tarantino’s one cinematic fetish. She jokingly revealed to Hollywood that she went to the audition in her flip-flops. She shared that she got the notes that he may want to see her feet. The Hateful Eight director’s alleged foot fetish became well-known after he included shots of several actresses’ feet in previous films. The Scott Pilgrim vs. the World actress told Hollywood:
“I went to the audition in flip-flops. Oh, I knew. Yeah, I knew that. I got the notes and everyone was kind of like, ‘Did you read that, that says he wants you to wear flip-flops?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, he likes feet. I know that. I’m aware.’ So I got a pedicure, and everything.”
Winstead’s feet did not play a major role in the film, compared to those of the other actresses. However, fans still remembered her cute yellow cheerleading outfit from the film. The flip-flop trick was not necessary either as Tarantino was aware of her work, including her one-episode stint on Tru Calling.
Quentin Tarantino Developed Lee Montgomery Based On Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Audition
When Quentin Tarantino auditioned Mary Elizabeth Winstead for the role of Lee Montgomery, he hadn’t fully developed the character. He wanted the auditioning actress to interpret the role in their own way. The director shared in a behind-the-scenes interview that he left it open so that he could cast any actress who walked in and impressed him. Tarantino shared in the interview:
“I’m going to leave it very open so that I can kind of cast anybody who comes walking in and has a really cool personality. Any neat, interesting, quirky actress that I like or any funny actress that comes in the door, I can take that personality and that will be Lee.”
Interestingly, Winstead was not the quirky personality he was looking for. The 10 Cloverfield Lane actress nailed the role of Lee and found a character that could actually be written into the script. While the Grindhouse double feature was a box office failure, Death Proof’s standalone release in several countries and home media garnered positive reviews.
Death Proof is now available for streaming on Paramount+.
