'Jackie Brown' Prequel Being Made, Minus Tarantino

by Monika Bartyzel; Cinematical



For the most part, the masses seem perfectly fine with Quentin Tarantino’s tendency to infuse his films with a neverending stream of cinematic references and homages. But what about other people tackling Tarantino’s world and vision? Do the same rules apply?



According to JoBlo, there is a Jackie Brown prequel in the works, titled The Switch. The big catch, or switch as the case may be, is that QT has nothing to do with this. He merely gave his blessing on the project and moved on. Dan Schechter adapted Elmore Leonard’s novel, and the author will be one of the film’s executive producers. As Tarantino mentioned to the Telegraph back in February, this is the book that turned the filmmaker into a Leonard fan, even though that wasn’t the film he ultimately made.



The Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro characters Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara lead this tale, which finds the pair becoming fast friends in prison, and then teaming up back in the real world for a big job – kidnapping the wife of a rich developer for ransom. But in an Overboard-type twist, the guy doesn’t want his “beloved” back. With a ticked off wife now in their ranks, they have to move towards Plan B.



The film will soon head out to find a director and cast.

Yeah, though The Switch hasn’t don’t much to do with Jackie Brown. It’s already more related to Rum Punch, the Leonard novel Tarantino adapted. The characterization of Ordell and Louis is very very much different in Jackie Brown. Louis is supposed to be some sort of fascist, pro-nazi or something, as I recall. De Niro has nothing of an extremist, he’s all tired of life. And Ordell wasn’t black neither in Rump Punch as I recall (Pam Grier’s character definitely wasn’t).



So depends if they’re gonne do it the hardboiled way, which would be closer to Leonard universe or the blaxploitation way as Tarantino did to fit it as a prequel.



Anyway, the novel is great if anyone wants to read it.