Pledging to retire from the movie-making business at 60, Quentin Tarantino takes pride in his decades of work in the entertainment industry. Often working on original scripts, except for the time when he directed the adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, Tarantino has been an obsessive cinephile.
However, despite his list of successful movies, the director couldn’t help but ponder about the time he was rejected by James Bond producers. Recalling his failed attempt at putting a personal spin on Casino Royale way ahead of Daniel Craig’s adaptation came up, Quentin Tarantino discussed the rejection he faced.
Quentin Tarantino Wanted His Version Of Casino Royale
Known for working on authentic stories, Quentin Tarantino has been quite proud of his projects. From being a renowned director to an obsessive cinephile, Tarantino has experimented with some of Hollywood’s biggest franchises. Grabbing the opportunity to work with his favorite character, the 60-year-old is also quite famous for adding a hint of Tarantino-esque spin to his films.
Creating engaging movies that are compelling to watch, Quentin Tarantino was rumored to be getting into the 007 business of directing James Bond movies. Sitting for an interview with Deadline, the 60-year-old thus discussed his passion for the James Bond projects. Having his eye, particularly on Casino Royale, Tarantino mentioned how he wanted to add a personal spin to the story years before Daniel Craig‘s adaptation came out. Tarantino stated,
“We reached out to the Ian Fleming people, and they had suggested that they still own the rights to Casino Royale. And that’s what I wanted to do after Pulp Fiction was do my version of Casino Royale, and it would’ve taken place in the ’60s and wasn’t about a series of Bond movies.”
But unfortunately, EON Productions never held the rights to the novel. It was Barbara Broccoli who had figured out three years back, that someday somebody might try to adapt the novel. So “they just made a blanket deal with the Fleming estate” which forced writers and directors like Tarantino to present their ideas and reach out to the Broccolis.
Quentin Tarantino Was Rejected By James Bond Producers
Frustrated with the whole idea of owning creative rights to Casino Royale, Quentin Tarantino mentioned how Barbara Broccoli stopped “somebody from being a wise guy and trying to do what [he] did”. Expressing his outrage, Tarantino mentioned,
“Like every short story, every travel book. If I want to make a movie of Thrilling Cities, I need to go to the Broccolis.”
Losing his chance of adding a spin to Casino Royale, the 60-year-old director shared with Deadline about how he was later rejected by the James Bond producers.
“I was always told very flattering versions of like, ‘Look, we love Quentin, but we make a certain kind of movies, and unless we f*ck it up, we make a billion dollars every time we make that type of movie, OK? We don’t want him to do it. Doesn’t matter that it will still do good. It could f*ck up our billion-dollar thing’.”
Although Quentin Tarantino wanted to do a faithful adaptation of the novel, casting Pierce Brosnan and possibly Uma Thurman, his hopes were dashed. Brosnan eventually dropped from the 007 role and Tarantino’s pitch was rejected by the producers. However, Casino Royale proved to be the next adventure and kicked off Daniel Craig’s career as a Bond movie star.
Watch the James Bond movies in order, only on Amazon Prime.
Source: Deadline
