Rosario Dawson Fulfilled Her Brad Pitt Fantasy by Starring in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Death Proof’

Quentin Tarantino recruited star Rosario Dawson for his 2007 feature Death Proof. While filming, the actor saw a link between Death Proof and a former Brad Pitt movie that allowed her to realize an old fantasy.

How ‘Death Proof’ reminded Rosario Dawson of this Brad Pitt movie

Dawson was determined to star in Tarantino’s 2007 Grindhouse feature no matter what. Death Proof saw Kurt Russell playing a serial killer who murdered unsuspecting victims with his car. Dawson was tapped to audition for one of the many women Russell’s character would target. Tarantino and his Grindhouse partner Robert Rodriguez would test Dawson out for the role. But initially, Dawson felt she left a pretty poor impression on the filmmakers with her audition.

“I auditioned for Quentin with Robert there, and it was really fun. He was really into it, but afterwards he continued looking, and I was really disappointed by that, because I really wanted to work with him, and just the idea of not having impressed him enough was crazy to me,” Dawson said in a 2007 interview with Moviehole.

Dawson would return for a second audition alongside fellow actor Tracie Thoms. The two would succeed in winning Tarantino over.

One of the reasons Dawson was drawn to the movie was her character. Like most of the women in the film, she found herself portraying a fierce fighter. This reminded Dawson of a much earlier Brad Pitt feature, allowing the actor to live out an old fantasy in the Tarantino flick.

“I remember watching Fight Club and coming out wanting to be Brad Pitt – and to watch this movie and feel that same exact feeling coming from the women is really, really cool,” she said. “I’m very excited for women to see this movie, because as much as it might seem like a violent, sexploitative thing, I think it’s going to be quite a rush for them, quite a ride, and I think it’s going to be a great date movie for that reason!”

Why Rosario Dawson considered ‘Death Proof’ a chick flick

On the surface, Death Proof can come across as a typical horror feature. But Dawson shared there were elements in the film that made it anything but.

“I mean, I said Death Proof was a chick flick because you look at the poster, and it looks like a total gearhead guy movie, but really, the women are in control,” Dawson once told Bust.

The Ahsoka star asserted that the film ends up with the women turning the tables on Russell’s perpetrator. And the end result is a moment of triumph for everyone involved. Including the audience.

“As much as it starts off misogynistic, with this creepy guy who’s checking out this group of girls, the girls turn on him. And they take this guy who’s really dangerous and scary, and they turn him into the weepy cowardly lion. It’s meant to make you feel euphoric when you leave,” she said.

These qualities made Death Proof a perfect tribute to the movies that inspired it.

“Well, obviously, Death Proof isn’t meant to be realistic, it’s a goofy cartoon. It’s an homage to grind-house movies, where women were allowed to do the same things men did in movies—pimping and killing and all that stuff. Those old blaxploitation and grind-house films were the first to let women assume those roles, especially women of color,” she said.

Rosario Dawson was shocked by how much Quentin Tarantino knew about her ‘Death Proof’ character

Dawson was in awe at the amount of work Tarantino put into Death Proof. The stories for his fictional characters went far beyond what was seen in the actual film. Rather, he had full origins for his creations that made them fully fleshed out on screen.

“He has so much back-story written for each character,” Dawson said in a 2007 interview with Collider. “If you want to know why she’s in a cheerleader outfit, if you want to know why I say this particular line, it’s because four years earlier when Kim and I were working on ‘Three Kicks to the Head Part Three’ we had this… he has it so written out. He’s like ‘ask as many questions or as few as you want because I have it all in my head’. The information in this man’s head [is] daunting. It was great.”