Quentin Tarantino has admitted that he almost started developing a movie about Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage over a decade before the MCU came to be, but his friends put him off the idea.
While appearing on Amy Schumer's podcast 3 Girls, 1 Keith, the Once Upon A Time in Hollywood director described himself as a "big comic book collector" growing up and added that his favourite heroes were the Harlem-based strongman and martial arts master Shang-Chi.
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"There was a time before all this Marvel shit was coming out... It was after Reservoir Dogs, it was before Pulp Fiction, and I had thought about doing Luke Cage," Quentin began.
"What dissuaded me … was my comic-geek friends talked me out of it."
Tarantino went on to explain that he'd told his pals he was keen for The Matrix star Laurence Fishburne to star in the titular role, but his friends laughed off his plans.
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Instead, they insisted that Wesley Snipes – who, interestingly enough, went on to portray Marvel's vampire anti-hero Blade on the big screen a few years later – should be the one to bring Luke Cage to life.
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"I go, 'Look, I like Wesley Snipes, but Larry Fishburne is practically Marlon Brando. I think Fish is the man'. And they're like, 'Yeah, but he'd have to get in shape in a big way. Snipes is that way already!'" the director recalled.
"And I go, 'F**k that! That's not that important! F**k you, you ruined the whole damn thing!'"
Ultimately, Tarantino passed on his original idea and Luke Cage later received his own Netflix series in 2016. Mike Colter, best known for his appearances in The Good Wife, Ringer and Men in Black 3, starred as the titular character.
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