Quentin Tarantino Secretly Worked On This Iconic Nic Cage Thriller
Quentin Tarantino was on fire in the 1990s. He still is. But in the mid-1990s, he was a Hollywood golden boy. Major studios offered the Pulp Fiction director numerous high-profile projects and even had him fine-tune some existing screen treatments.
When a filmmaker takes an uncredited pass at a script, it’s often kept under wraps. However, word has gotten out that Tarantino reportedly took a stab at the Nicolas Cage action epic The Rock.
David Weisberg and Douglas Cook brought the original idea to the table and eventually wrote the script with Mark Rosner. However, director Michael Bay wasn’t satisfied with what the scribes came up with, and over time, a lot of cooks passed through the proverbial kitchen. Two noteworthy names that took a pass are Aaron Sorkin (Molly’s Game) and Quentin Tarantino. Neither took a writing credit. But each reportedly added something to the script.
The setup for this Tarantino-tinged effort goes like this:
FBI chemical warfare expert Stanley Goodspeed (Cage) is sent on an urgent mission with a former British spy, John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery), to stop Gen. Francis X. Hummel (Ed Harris) from launching chemical weapons on Alcatraz Island into San Francisco. Gen. Hummel demands $100 million in war reparations to be paid to the families of slain servicemen who died on covert operations. After their SEAL team is wiped out, Stanley and John deal with the soldiers on their own.
According to The Telegraph, Sorkin likely contributed dialogue and some of the witty banter between characters. Tarantino, as the outlet suggests, is almost certainly responsible for the needle to the heart scene, which nods to his Oscar-winning film Pulp Fiction. They also note that the standoff between the antagonists appears very much like an homage to Reservoir Dogs.
Despite what some might consider too many cooks in the kitchen, the project came together quite nicely. The Rock grossed $335 million globally and received reasonably favorable reviews.
Where is The Rock streaming?
If you’re curious to re-watch this action spectacle with an eye toward Tarantino’s influence on the project, make your way to Hulu, where the film is streaming as of the publication of this post.
That’s all we have for you at present, dear reader. Be sure to stay tuned to the site for more behind-the-scenes anecdotes as we successfully unearth them. Also, if you would like to discuss the storied careers of Nic Cage and Quentin Tarantino at length, come find me on Threads @FunWithHorror.
Categorized:News
