We’ve learned that in a galaxy long before Marvel Studios was created and Quentin Tarantino hated ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ bumping ‘The Hateful Eight’ that he wanted to make a ‘Luke Cage‘ film. In a time where only ‘Batman’ and prior to that ‘Superman’ could dominate the box office for comic movies, it seems that the Oscar-winning Tarantino wanted to bring this Hero for Hire to the big screen. In fact, Luke Cage just happens to be Tarantino’s favorite comic character who was quickly followed by ‘Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos’ and ‘

In fact, Luke Cage just happens to be Tarantino’s favorite comic character who was quickly followed by ‘Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos’ and ‘Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu’. It seems that he wanted to make the film prior to the work that would make him a household name in Hollywood! We’re talking so far back that Blade hadn’t even started putting down bloodsuckers:

“One of the things I wanted to do before Pulp Fiction to some degree or another…one of the outside projects that I considered doing was doing a Luke Cage movie.”

Not only were comic adaptations not popular, when Tarantino wanted to make a Luke Cage film, but he wanted to make one using a Marvel hero who hadn’t yet found his top tier status. So aside from the fact that Marvel in that day and age would have been unlikely to think about doing a grittier superhero movie, you might wonder what ended up stopping it in its tracks – it all boiled down to casting:

“In the case of Luke Cage, it was my comic geek friends that almost talked me out of it, because I thought Larry Fishburne back in the day would’ve been a great Luke Cage, and they were talking about Wesley Snipes. And I could see them both, but it was like ‘I think Fish would be better.’ And they go ‘Yeah…he could work out and everything, but he doesn’t have the bod that Wesley Snipes has, and Luke Cage needs to have the bod.’

“And I literally was so turned off that that would be their both starting and ending point, that it literally put it in my head that, if I do a comic book movie, it should be an original character. It should be something I create rather than try to fit in.”

That does seem like a pretty understandable reason as we all know what happened with Johnny Storm in the ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot and how poorly that went over. Fan expectations can be high and if you don’t meet them or completely turn your back on them it might not go over well. While the Netflix series aren’t quite at the level of violence or darker stories that you might see in a Tarantino film, it is much easier to imagine him stepping into the director’s chair for at least one of the Netflix shows if not the more family friendly feature films.

Would you have been interested in seeing Quentin Tarantino directing a ‘Luke Cage’ movie? Do you think he’s been enjoying the Netflix series? Share your thoughts below True Believers!

Source: Blastr