Nine Actors Quentin Tarantino Should Cast in his Ninth Film

Photo Credit: VOX ATL

I got the chance to watch Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie The Hateful Eight while I was on vacation last week and I was pleasantly surprised. While a huge fan of several of his early films, I wasn’t overly impressed with his most recent three. Sure, Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, and Death Proof all have their moments, but they pale in comparison to Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and the two volumes of Kill Bill. Not only is The Hateful Eight entertaining from start to finish, it gives yet another largely forgotten actor a new chance to shine. Some of Tarantino’s previous films featured fantastic performances by the likes of John Travolta, Pam Grier, Robert Forster, and Daryl Hannah, all of them on long streaks of low budget/poor quality projects. This time around, he’s given Jennifer Jason Leigh a juicy part and like her previously mentioned predecessors, she nails it. As the doomed and oft-abused prisoner Daisy Domergue, Leigh delivers a villain that’s equal parts amusing, disgusting, and pitiable. She holds her own with heavyweight castmates including Kurt Russell and Samuel L. Jackson and it looks like the role paid off. She’s slated to star in several other big films this year and next. So who does Quentin pluck from the cinematic scrapheap for film #9? Here are nine suggestions:

Mel Gibson

Everyone knows Gibson’s career tanked thanks to his anti-Semitic rant during a drunk-driving arrest in 2006. Since then he’s done a few projects of note, but nothing nearly as big as during his heyday between 1985 and 2002. He may not be a good guy in real life, but he’s a heck of an actor.

Jennifer Tilly

One of the hottest sex kittens in cinema during the 90s, Tilly mainly does bit parts and voiceover work these days. You couldn’t take your eyes off her in the 1996 film Bound. How cool would it be if Tarantino developed a role for her in the same vein as Pam Grier’s in Jackie Brown?

Brad Dourif

Dourif is one of those character actors that’s been in so many great films, it’s easy to forget how much he’s done in his career. After starting off in the Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he’s since had roles in over 150 features and series including The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Dune, Alien: Resurrection, and my favorite TV series of all time, Deadwood.

Eva Mendes

Rumored to have a role in the upcoming Fast 8, Mendes might not need a Tarantino flick to jumpstart her career, but I’d still like to see her get more and better parts. She’s been in several good movies since she first hit the screen in 1998, but my favorite of her roles-to-date was as the duplicitous Ajedrez in Robert Rodriguez’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Sam Rockwell

This versatile actor still gets steady feature work, but there’s no such thing as too much Sam Rockwell. If you haven’t seen him in Moon, Heist, or The Green Mile go rent those films ASAP. He’s one of the best actors working today and I’d love to see him take on a Tarantino script.

Rutger Hauer

Roy Batty himself. Hauer has been in a ton of dogs since the classic 1982 sci-fi noir, Blade Runner. Yet he’s done his share of quality work as well, usually as a psychotic bad guy, something Tarantino knows a thing or two about. The Hitcher, Surviving the Game, and Sin City are all examples of what he can do with a good part.

Winona Ryder

Ryder had a string of hits starting in 1988 with Heathers and Beetlejuice but since her 1999 turn in Girl, Interrupted, her career has been pretty low-key. Granted, she’s slated to be in the Beetlejuice sequel but a gritty role in a Tarantino flick may be just what she needs. Hey, maybe art could imitate life and he could write her a shoplifting character.

Keith David

David is another actor that still gets plenty of jobs, but his roles these days tend to be small or in smaller projects. He’s done some awesome voice work including the evil Dr. Facilier in Disney’s 2009 film, The Princess and the Frog and as the title character in the TV series, Spawn. Some of his best older roles can be seen in the movies The Quick and the Dead, Platoon, and The Thing.

Daniel Day Lewis

And finally, I suggest the man that might just be the finest actor alive, Daniel Day Lewis. He makes very few movies, the last being Lincoln in 2012. He’s won the Best Lead Actor Oscar three times and my personal favorites were his roles in Gangs of New York and There Will Be Blood. I assume that he’s extremely picky about the parts that he accepts. Here’s hoping he accepts one from Tarantino before either of them are through.