Michael Keaton Was Initially Disappointed With His Role in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Jackie Brown’
Quentin Tarantino recruited many notable actors for his third feature film Jackie Brown. The movie saw him teaming up with performers he’d never collaborated with before but always admired like Michael Keaton. But when Keaton initially heard about his role in Jackie Brown, he confided it wasn’t what he hoped it’d be at first.
Michael Keaton was initially disappointed with his role in ‘Jackie Brown’
For Tarantino, Keaton was the only actor he had in mind who could play the part of agent Ray Nicolette in Jackie Brown. Tarantino was determined to recruit the comic star for the movie, but Keaton didn’t share the filmmaker’s enthusiasm. Originally, Keaton turned down the offer. Tarantino believed he did so because the Batman star doubted he was a good fit for the Jackie Brown character.
But Keaton had other reservations when considering Jackie Brown. Although he was more than willing to work with Tarantino, Keaton thought his character could’ve been presented a bit differently.
“At first I was disappointed, because I really wanted to be in one of his movies, just not in this role. So I sat and talked with Quentin and I started liking what he had to say. Then I said ‘If I’m gonna do this role, here’s how I want to play this character.’ We worked out a compromise and I’m really glad we did,” Tarantino once told The Guardian.
This compromise meant adding a little more depth to Keaton’s role.
“It hadn’t been really established how he moved and acted. He was just: Get the job done. Get the guy. Get him, and don’t let anyone stop you. That’s what Quentin wanted, but I saw my character as a guy who didn’t have a perfect life and who saw this woman [Jackie Brown] closer to what she really was. I wanted to show the slightest bit of sympathy,” Keaton said.
Quentin Tarantino convinced Michael Keaton to do the role after a night out drinking
Tarantino didn’t go the conventional route to get Keaton on board for the project. The director took the actor out for a couple of drinks. Sometime during their time together, Keaton would accept the role, although Keaton couldn’t recall the details.
“We go out on Sunset Boulevard [Los Angeles], Quentin has us drinking Jagermeister,” he once told Empire (via Hollywood). “Firstly, who drinks Jagermeister man? Anyway, I don’t know what happened but the next thing I’m heading home and I’m doing the movie.”
Keaton’s agent was surprised that the Beetlejuice actor took the part. But Keaton was just as shocked.
“So I go, ‘I guess I’m doing it,’” Keaton remembered telling his agent. “My agent is all excited and goes, ‘Really? Why?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know, I just woke up an hour ago and I don’t remember.’”
How Michael Keaton felt working with Quentin Tarantino
Keaton’s experience with Tarantino was one fans might have come to expect given the director’s reputation. Keaton even found Tarantino’s style of filmmaking comparable to his Birdman director Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu.
“He’s Quentin, and he’s really high-energy. He really wants to talk about the scenes a couple of times and discuss it. He’s really, really hands-on, a bit like Alejandro, and he’s really specific. He’s so good with language and words. He sits right there, very close, and wants to talk to you a little bit,” Keaton said in an interview with Collider.
Tarantino even managed to change the way Keaton looked at casting actors.
“I thought it was lazy thinking to hear, ‘Once you’ve cast it, you’re pretty much there,’ but I’m starting to believe that’s really true. Once you have the right actor, then you know where to move them or what you want to get out of them,” he said.
