Tarantino Wants to Tackle James Bond

Started by Ravi, May 16, 2004, 08:11:22 PM

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Ravi

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=638&e=1&u=/nm/arts_cannes_tarantino_dc

Quentin Tarantino Wants to Tackle James Bond

Sat May 15, 3:53 PM ET  

By Mike Davidson

CANNES, France (Reuters) - After four years of filming and editing his "Kill Bill" revenge saga, American director Quentin Tarantino (news) feels like he's climbed a cinematic mountain but instead of a much-desired rest he wants to tackle the Everest of film genres: James Bond.

Once Tarantino finishes worldwide promotion for his "Kill Bill - Volume 2" sequel, which stars Uma Thurman (news) as a bride bent on finding the man who tried to kill her, he plans to approach the producers of the big-budget Bond series.

"I've always wanted to do it. I bumped into Pierce Brosnan (news) and we talked about it. He liked the idea," he said.

Tarantino is a lifelong fan of the British spy saga, now starring the Irish actor Brosnan.

"I would like to do the original book 'Casino Royale' and do it more or less the way the Ian Fleming book is," Tarantino told Reuters in an interview in Cannes, where he is president of this year's film festival jury.

"Casino Royale" was made in 1967 as an ill-fated spoof starring David Niven (news) as an aging 007.

"I don't know if they're going to go for it or not, but I'm letting them know I'm interested," he said.

Only weeks ago, an exhausted Tarantino said he felt like he had already climbed the world's highest peak and would probably pick a smaller-scale production for his next picture.

That was before he received some words of advice from Eleanor Coppola, wife of legendary director Francis Ford Coppola (news) and mother of Sofia Coppola (news) ("Lost in Translation"), who is rumored to be dating Tarantino.

Eleanor Coppola, who documented the disaster-ridden making of her husband's 1979 classic "Apocalypse Now," told Tarantino to tackle ambitious projects while he still had youth and energy on his side.

"It was actually quite profound advice that she gave. Not to say that you can't make a small movie in between, but now is not the time to do a left-handed project," Tarantino said. "Now is the time to climb Mount Everest (news - web sites)."

The "Reservoir Dogs" director sounds like he has no intention of slowing down. He has completed a script for a World War II project and is also toying with plans for a horror film.

Though he is handing out the honors this year, Tarantino has every intention of returning to Cannes, where he won the Palme d'Or best film award in 1994 with "Pulp Fiction."

"I guess at the end of the day it would be nice if my crowning achievement was the fact that I won more Palme d'Ors than any filmmaker who ever lived. That would be great, that's something to aspire to," he said.