Anybody who remembers Clarence showing Alabama the first issue of Spider-Man in True Romance, recalls Bill explaining Superman’s critique on the human race to The Bride in Kill Bill Vol. 2, or was aware that the Silver Surfer argument in Crimson Tide is courtesy of an uncredited Quentin Tarantino rewrite, should know that QT is somewhat of a comic book fan. Tarantino has now told MTV that Inglourious Basterds was heavily influenced by Marvel Comics’ Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos.
Aside from the one scene he directed in Sin City, I’ve often wondered why this great director has not taken the opportunity to direct a comic book based film in an era where superheroes have dominated the box office. There have been so many bad comic book films made by directors who do not appreciate the source material they are working from, that I would like to see more directors who are fans (like Tarantino and Kevin Smith) take on some of these adaptations.
During the previously mentioned interview with MTV, Quentin Tarantino revealed why he has not opted to make a comic book film thus far and that he turned down the opportunity to direct the Green Lantern. He states:
“I was offered the ‘Green Lantern’. Not since it’s been a script, but just like, ‘Hey we own the ‘Green Lantern.’ Would you like it?'” He goes on to say: “So there’s a little part of me that’s like, wow, if I was in my 20s, this would be the genre I’d want to specialize in. But they weren’t making them then, or at least not the right ones. But there also is an aspect where I’ve kind of outgrown that a little bit.”
QT has often said that he does not want to adapt works which are not his own for the big screen, and although this includes existing comic books, he says that he would consider making a superhero film if it was an original idea of his.
“I’m a writer. I’d want to use my imagination and not have to fight with geeks’ memories of how this character should be and, ‘Oh, I cast an actor as opposed to a bodybuilder’ or it’s not as good as the way [DC Comics artist] Neal Adams drew him.’ If I were to do something like that, I would want the fun of coming up with the superhero myself.”
Quentin has previously gone on record to show his admiration for M. Night Shyamalan’s brilliant original superhero movie Unbreakable, and earlier this year he claimed that it is one of his twenty favorite films of the past seventeen years.
An original superhero film by Quentin Tarantino is something I would love to see (even though The Bride was practically a superhero), so hopefully this is a project that one day materializes. Maybe QT will draw some inspiration from Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass when it is released next year as even Vaughn himself has described the film as Tarantino-esque.
