Quentin Tarantino has been claiming for years that he’d someday make a film on the life of abolitionist John Brown, the director’s “favorite American who ever lived,†whose armed insurrection at Harper’s Ferry in 1859 helped start the Civil War (he told Charlie Rose last August that it would likely be years in the future, and possibly his final movie). With the commercial success and impending Best Picture victory for his WWII-shortening Inglourious Basterds, though, it sounds like he’s interested in whimsically improving history again sooner rather than later.
According to the Daily News, this is Tarantino describing his next movie:
“I’d like to do a Western. But rather than set it in Texas, have it in slavery times. With that subject that everybody is afraid to deal with. Let’s shine that light on ourselves. You could do a ponderous history lesson of slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad. Or, you could make a movie that would be exciting. Do it as an adventure. A spaghetti Western that takes place during that time. And I would call it ‘A Southern.’â€
Commence casting rumors for John Brown (Robert Forster, maybe?) and speculation over how many years before Lincoln Tarantino will end slavery (at least three, for sure).
Quentin Tarantino: Brad Pitt does not smoke pot while acting; I don’t smoke while directing [NYDN]