Quentin Tarantino’s Unmade Movies: 21 Projects the Filmmaker Almost Directed

An True-to-Form Adaptation of “True Blood’”

In an interview with The Big Picture podcast, Tarantino name-dropped a few candidates he had in mind on the off chance he ever gets around to making a Rambo revamp. Reminding listeners that the “First Blood” book is very different from Stallone’s Rambo franchise, the filmmaker would aim for an adaption of David Morrell’s work that is more true to the original story.

“I would do the novel,” Tarantino said. “And Kurt Russell would play the sheriff, and [Adam Driver] would play Rambo. Every time I read [the novel], the dialogue is so fantastic…[The film] would be so good.” —MF

A “Sgt. Rock” Movie for DC

Tarantino has a strict quality control measure that makes all of his movies engaging, with his own words and ideas embedded into every script. The director has written each movie he’s made in addition to selling a few scripts that he couldn’t get around to, so making a film that didn’t have his creative mind behind it would be unusual but Tarantino has considered it. Impressed with David Webb Peoples’ script for “Sgt. Rock,” Tarantino decided against making the DC character movie but said he was on the fence.

“He wrote a movie version of ‘Sgt. Rock’ that I always thought was really terrific,” Tarantino said. “I don’t think I’m ever going to end up doing it but I really did like that script and it’s one of the few times I’ve considered doing another script.” —MF

“The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”

Originally a ’60s TV series, “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” film once had Tarantino’s name attached — before Guy Ritchie made his 2015 take on the material which Tarantino wasn’t crazy about. Growing up a fan of the original show, Ritchie’s interpretation aimed to tell more of the background of how American and Russian spies joined forces to work for the secret organization “U.N.C.L.E.” and felt that his revamp added a unique spin to the story.

“It had enough components for me to feel I could make it feel fresh,” Ritchie said. —MF

“Killer Crow”

One project Tarantino started developing only to abandon is “Killer Crow,” a spinoff to his critical and box office smash hit “Inglourious Basterds.” The movie was taken from a chunk of Tarantino’s “Basterds” script that never made it to production. In the original “Basterds” screenplay, Brad Pitt’s character Lt. Aldo Raine comes across a platoon of Black soldiers who are also on a mission of revenge. “Killer Crow” followed this platoon of Black soldiers as they attempt to exact revenge on the white officers who screwed them over in the military. Tarantino has admitted the “Killer Crow” script would need another polish if it were to ever be made into a feature.

“Double V Vega”

Quentin Tarantino once eyed a prequel to “Pulp Fiction” and spoke to CinemaBlend about what went down in the never-made project: “The only thing I did know was the premise,” the filmmaker said. “I had a premise. It would’ve taken place in Amsterdam, during the time Vincent was in Amsterdam. He was running some club for Marsellus Wallace in Amsterdam, he was there for a couple years. In some point during his two years spent running that club, Vic shows up to visit him and it would’ve been their weekend.”

The idea was for John Travolta and Michael Madsen to reprise their characters from “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs,” respectively, but that casting would no longer work for a prequel. It’s unlikely “Double V Vega” becomes Tarantino’s last film, but if it does it will need to recast the younger version of the iconic Tarantino characters. Tarantino has said his last movie will feel like an epilogue to his career (see final entry below), and what would be more of a final note than going back to his first breakout films?

“Kill Bill Vol. 3”

The Bride’s story is not over in Tarantino’s head, but whether or not audiences get to see the next chapter of the “Kill Bill” series on the big screen remains up in the air. Tarantino has long discussed making “Kill Bill Vol. 3,” which would find Uma Thurman’s Beatrix Kiddo being hunted by the revenge-seeking daughter of Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox). The Bride famously kills Vernita in the opening sequence of “Kill Bill Vol. 1.” Actress Amandla Stenberg has already thrown her hat into the ring to play Vernita’s daughter, and Tarantino revealed back in 2019 that he is still in discussions with Thurman about making another “Kill Bill.” As Tarantino told MTV, “Me and Uma have talked about it recently, frankly, to tell you the truth. I have thought about it a little further. We were talking about it literally last week. If any of my movies were going to spring from my other movies, it would be a third ‘Kill Bill.’”

However, during a recent Sirius XM podcast interview, Uma Thurman said that “Vol. 3” is “not immediately on the horizon” despite hopes from fans. 

“I can’t really tell you anything about it,” Thurman said. “I mean it has been discussed over the years. There was real thought about it happening, but very long ago.

Thurman added, “I hate to disappoint people. Everybody wishes it would be the case, but I think it’s not immediately on the horizon.”

An Untitled Horror Movie

Tarantino has yet to make a full-blown horror movie (many agree the Spahn Ranch sequence in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is as close as the director has come to delivering a horror sequence), which is why he’s not ruling out a more overt genre effort for his 10th and final movie. During an interview on his international “Hollywood” press tour (via The Independent), Tarantino let it slip that horror could be in his future. “If I come up with a terrific horror film story, I will do that as my tenth film,” Tarantino said. “I love horror movies. I would love to do a horror film.”

R-Rated “Star Trek”

A script for Tarantino’s potential R-rated “Star Trek” movie already exists, written by “The Revenant” scribe Mark L. Smith. Tarantino has said he plans to revisit the script in order to punch it up, then he’ll decide whether or not a space adventure is where he’ll end his career. The movie would star the current cast of Paramount’s “Star Trek” franchise, including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, and more. Some have wondered if Tarantino’s 10-film retirement plan was reserved only for original projects, making a potential “Star Trek” movie a loophole, but the director has said that’s not the case. “I actually think, if I was going to do ‘Star Trek,’ I should commit to it,” Tarantino told CinemaBlend. “It’s my last movie. There should be nothing left handed about it. I don’t know if I’m going to do that, but that might happen.”

But when Paramount confirmed that the studio is plunging ahead on a new “Star Trek” movie from “WandaVision” Matt Shakman, it was a sobering reminder for Tarantino fans that his take on the Enterprise is probably dead. At least for the time being.

A 1930s Gangster Movie

Tarantino is often considered one of the greatest crime directors thanks to efforts like “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” and “Jackie Brown,” but the filmmaker has never crossed over to make a full-blown gangster drama. Could Tarantino channel his inner Martin Scorsese for his last movie? It’s possible. During the promotion of “Django Unchained” in 2012, Tarantino revealed at a BAFTA event that he was eager to direct a 1930s Warner Bros–type gangster picture. The director said he wanted to make a gangster movie “someday,” and with only one movie left before his retirement it would seem there’s only one chance left for him to do so.

John Brown Biopic

Before Tarantino directed and released “Django Unchained,” he often discussed the possibility of making another slavery drama centered around legendary abolitionist John Brown. The filmmaker even said that if he were to make a John Brown movie, it would come towards the end of his career. Appearing on “The Charlie Rose Show” in 2009, Tarantino explained, “There is one [biopic] that I could be interested in, but it would probably be one of the last movies I [ever make]. My favorite hero in American history is John Brown. He’s my favorite American who ever lived. He basically single-handedly started the road to end slavery and the fact that he killed people to do it. He decided, ‘If we start spilling white blood, then they’re going to start getting the idea.’”

An Adaptation of His WWII Book

Tarantino revealed during a DGA conversation with Martin Scorsese that he is working on a novel about a WWII veteran whose experiences in the war make him jaded to Hollywood movies. “As far as he’s concerned, Hollywood movies are movies,” Tarantino said of the character. “And so then, all of a sudden, he starts hearing about these foreign movies by Kurosawa and Fellini. And so he’s like, ‘Well, maybe they might have something more than this phony Hollywood stuff.’” The project sounds as personal to Tarantino as “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” but would Tarantino cross mediums and adapt it into a movie? It’s not the craziest idea, as Tarantino has often considered different mediums for various projects over the years (“The Hateful Eight” was created out of a “Django” sequel novel Tarantino was planning, for instance). 

“The Psychic”

At the turn of the century, following the release of three critical favorites (“Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” and “Jackie Brown”), Tarantino expressed interest in directing a remake of one of his favorite psychological horror films: Lucio Fulci’s “The Psychic” (music from which is featured in “Kill Bill”). The 1977 Italian giallo centers around a clairvoyant woman who discovers a skeleton buried inside the wall of her husband’s home. Tarantino said in 2000 that he wanted “Jackie Brown” star Bridget Fonda to star in his remake. The director did not own the rights to Fulci’s movie at the time, and he told Ain’t It Cool News, “It’s one of those things where it’s like if somebody buys the rights to make it, I won’t make it. If it’s meant to happen, it’ll happen.” Nobody has bought the rights, which means we shouldn’t completely rule out “The Psychic” as a contender for Tarantino’s last movie, especially since the director has already said he might go horror for his final outing. 

“Luke Cage: Hero For Hire”

Tarantino has long been a fan of Blaxploitation cinema (which is one of the reasons he directed “Jackie Brown”), so it’s not surprising to hear the director wanted to develop a superhero movie featuring Luke Cage, the comic book character inspired by Blaxploitation. As Tarantino once told MTV, “After ‘Reservoir Dogs,’ I had considered doing a ‘Luke Cage, Hero for Hire’ movie. [Producer] Ed Pressman owned the rights at that time, and we talked about it. I talked to [Laurence Fishburne] about being Luke Cage, and he really liked that idea. Then I ended up writing ‘Pulp Fiction.’” There was renewed interest in Luke Cage following Netflix’s original series, which featured Mike Colter in the lead role. If Tarantino decided to make his last movie a superhero movie, it’s likely “Luke Cage: Hero For Hire” would be a leading contender.

“The Berlin Game”

Another unmade project that Tarantino has referenced several times over the years is an adaptation of Len Deighton’s spy trilogy made up of “Berlin Game,” “Mexico Set,” and “London Match.” For any Tarantino fan looking for a last film loophole, this could be it. Tarantino counts his two-part “Kill Bill” movies as one film, so perhaps he would do the same if he were to direct the “Berlin Game” trilogy. “I love England. It would be a wonderful life experience to have an excuse to work here for six or nine months,” Tarantino said during the release of “Inglourious Basterds.” “One of the things I am musing about doing is the trilogy of Len Deighton books. The story takes place in the Cold War and follows a spy name Bernard Samson. What is attractive is the really great characters and the wonderful opportunities of British and German casting.”

James Bond

Cary Fukunaga’s “No Time to Die” features Daniel Craig’s last performance as James Bond. The franchise will be exploring some uncharted territory beginning with Bond 26, and what better director to freshen up 007 for a new era than Tarantino? The filmmaker was outspoken about wanting to make a “Casino Royale” movie after the release of “Kill Bill,” going so far as to suggest Eva Green for a role and going on the record that he wanted Pierce Brosnan to reprise his 007 role. It seems Tarantino and the Bond producers clashed over his vision (he alleges the producers were “afraid [he was] going to make it too good and fuck the rest of the series”), with director Martin Campbell and Daniel Craig chosen for “Casino Royale” instead. The debacle has long made the possibility of a Tarantino-directed Bond movie a slim one, but there’s no question getting him behind the camera for Bond 26 would be a major cinematic event (if Tarantino can release an original drama to over $400 million, there’s no telling how high his 007 movie would go).

An Erotic Movie

Tarantino once told The Telegraph he was considering making an erotic movie in the same vein as the softcore sex films of the 1970s. “I came up with the idea of like a cool sex movie that would take place in Stockholm, with a couple of Americans visiting a couple of Swedish friends,” Tarantino said. “Kind of like the girls in ‘Death Proof,’ just going out drinking, having a good time, hooking up. If I actually do an erotic movie, I’m going to have to reveal what I find sexy, what turns me on. And when it comes to sex in movies, it’s got to be kind of kinky, because that’s what’s cinematic, that’s what’s fun. But my problem wouldn’t be revealing myself. My problem would be doing a press tour talking about me revealing myself. And how creepy that would be, how creepy the questions would be.” 

“40 Lashes Less One”

Quentin Tarantino mastered the art of the Elmore Leonard adaptation with “Jackie Brown,” which was adapted from the author’s “Rum Punch,” and for awhile during the mid-2000s Tarantino was flirting with directing another Leonard adaptation from his book “40 Lashes Less One.” The novel is a Western revenge thriller (so right up Tarantino’s alley) in which an Apache and a Black soldier break free from death row and hunt down the five worst outlaws in the West. Tarantino owned the rights to the novel and in 2007 revealed he had written at least two dozen pages of the script. Tarantino often prioritizes original projects, which is one reason his “40 Lashes Less One” script continued to get sidelined in favor of “Django Unchained,” “Inglourious Basterds,” and more.

“Django/Zorro”

Collider reported in 2019 that Tarantino was developing an adaptation of his graphic novel series “Django/Zorro” with comedian and writer Jerrod Carmichael. The seven-issue crossover series, co-written by Tarantino and Matt Wagner, served as a sequel to “Django Unchained” and was published between 2014 and 2015. “Django/Zorro” picks up several years after the film with the title character still working as a bounty hunter. Django has a bounty on his own head in the east because of the murder spree on the Candyland plantation and now operates in the west. It’s here he meets Don Diego de la Vega, the famed Zorro, and agrees to become his bodyguard on a mission to free the local Indigenous population from slavery. Collider reported that Tarantino was not set to direct the “Django/Zorro” film adaptation, but will the director want to hand over his beloved character to someone else’s directorial vision? Only time will tell.

“Bounty Law”

Quentin Tarantino loved directing the fictional episodes of “Bounty Law” for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” so much that he has gone on record expressing interest in doing an entire project in the “Bounty Law” universe. “From watching the different old Western shows and everything, I did it to get in the head of ‘Bounty Law,’” Tarantino told Deadline. “I ended up starting to really like the idea of Jake Cahill, as a character. I really started loving those half-hour ’50s Western scripts. The idea that you could write something like 24 minutes, where there was so much story crammed in those half-hour shows, with a real beginning and a middle and an end. Also it was kind of fun because you can’t just keep doubling down and exploring. At some point, you’ve got to wrap it up. I really liked that idea. I’ve written five different episodes for a possible ‘Bounty Law’ black-and-white, half-hour Western show.” The most urgent question is whether or not a “Bounty Law” television miniseries would count as a 10th final project, since it would not technically be a movie. 

Something Original and “Epilogue-y”

Perhaps the best insight into Quentin Tarantino’s last movie arrived during the “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” press tour. During a press conference in Moscow, Tarantino said that he was starting to have an idea about what his last movie would be like. “If you think about the idea of all the movies telling one story and each film is like a train boxcar connected to each other, this one would sort of be the big show-stopping climax of it all,” the director said of “Hollywood.” “And I could imagine that the 10th one would be a little more epilogue-y.” The comment teases Tarantino will most likely stick to his guns and do something original, or take a pre-existing franchise like “Star Trek” and tailor it in a way where it becomes reflective of Tarantino’s career as a director.

A Spaghetti Western Comedy

Speaking at the Rome Film Festival in 2021, he vaguely alluded to the idea of not calling it quits after 10 movies, via a Variety report. The director said he has “no idea” what his next film will be. Asked if it could be another “Kill Bill,” he responded “Why not?” before adding: “But first I want to make a comedy.”

Tarantino was in attendance at the event to bestow a lifetime achievement award upon giallo filmmaker Dario Argento.

“It’s not like my next movie. It’s a piece of something else that I’m thinking about doing — and I’m not going to describe what it is,” Tarantino said. “But part of this thing, there is supposed to be a Spaghetti Western in it.”

“I’m looking forward to shooting that [thing] because it’s going to be really fun. Because I want to shoot it in the Spaghetti Western style where everybody’s speaking a different language,” he went on, before breaking into laughter.

“The Mexican Bandido is an Italian; the hero is an American; the bad sheriff is a German; the Mexican saloon girl is Israeli. And everybody is speaking a different language. And you [the actors] just know: OK, when he’s finished talking then I can talk,” Tarantino said with a laugh.