Why Quentin Tarantino Was Glad He Didn’t Cast Jennifer Lawrence in ‘The Hateful Eight’ After All
Quentin Tarantino has collaborated with several A-listers in his historic career. From Samuel L. Jackson to Leonardo DiCaprio, his movies and reputation have attracted many box-office draws and megastars to his work. However, there are some actors that Tarantino still hasn’t worked with. Jennifer Lawrence, who he’s a fan of, is one of them.
Tarantino was close to nabbing the X-Men star in one of his movies, The Hateful Eight. Circumstances got in the way of the two officially collaborating. But Tarantino ended up glad he didn’t cast Lawrence in the role after all for one reason.
Quentin Tarantino wanted to cast Jennifer Lawrence in ‘The Hateful Eight’
Tarantino revealed himself to be a fan of Jennifer Lawrence, so much so that the director has tried working with her. His first attempt at recruiting Lawrence in his filmography was with The Hateful Eight. Tarantino had Lawrence in mind to play Daisy Domergue.
“I’m a huge Jennifer Lawrence fan,” Tarantino once said to Entertainment Weekly. “I think I’ve been on record of saying that her and David O. Russell’s relationship is very William Wyler-Bette Davis like, and that’s a good thing to be like. And I can see her doing a good job with this role, so we went to talk about it and everything.”
But Tarantino revealed that her schedule made it nearly impossible for Lawrence to do the part.
“She was just doing me a courtesy to see me, I think. She was doing Joy,” Tarantino said. There was just no f-ing way in the world that she was available.”
The role went to another Jennifer in Jennifer Jason Leigh, who Tarantino believes was the perfect choice all along.
“I’m glad I didn’t cast somebody that young,” Tarantino said in regards to Lawrence. “I think I absolutely, positively made the right choice, as far as the ages of the characters.”
Quentin Tarantino also tried to cast Jennifer Lawrence in ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’
Years later, Tarantino circled around Lawrence’s orbit again for his latest feature, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. According to People, Tarantino opened up to Marc Maron on his WTF podcast about almost securing her for the role. In the movie, she would’ve played Squeaky Fromme, a member of Charles Manson’s infamous cult. The two met to discuss the script in detail.
“Early on, in the pre-production of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I flirted around with the idea of…Jennifer Lawrence playing Squeaky,” Tarantino told Maron. “She came down to the house to read the script, ’cause I wasn’t letting it out. So she came down to the house and I gave her the script and said, ‘Go in my living room or go outside by the pool and read it.’”
But once again, their collaboration couldn’t come to fruition.
“She read it, and afterward, we talked about it a little bit. She was interested in doing it, but something didn’t work out,” Tarantino said.
The part later went to Dakota Fanning, and Tarantino was more than pleased by Fanning’s portrayal. In fact, he revealed, “I couldn’t be happier with what Dakota Fanning did; it’s one of the best performances in the movie. I think she’s amazing as Squeaky Fromme. She becomes her.”
One of Quentin Tarantino’s favorite actors is someone he hasn’t worked with yet
With a few exceptions, Tarantino has had his pick of who to work with in Hollywood. But one of his favorite actors is someone he has yet to work with. According to Indiewire, Tarantino revealed that Unstoppable is one of his favorite movies. And that’s partly because Chris Pine stars in the film.
“I think one of those things that’s exciting about the movie is I am a huge Chris Pine fan,” Tarantino said. “Now, to me, of the actors of his age, he’s hands down my favorite — of that group, of that era, of those guys. Hands down, my favorite. When I saw him in the Star Trek movie as Captain Kirk I thought he was making this movie.”
Tarantino also added that if he had the right part in a film for Chris Pine, he’d like to work with the actor. Since Tarantino’s tenth and final movie is on the horizon, perhaps he’ll be able to find a slot for his favorite Chris before bowing out of Hollywood.
