Quentin Tarantino set out to make a monster-sized movie based on his love of classic kung fu movies called Kill Bill, but thanks to an incident at the table read, he ended up casting one actor to play two different roles. Kill Bill stars Uma Thurman as The Bride, a woman whose former employer betrayed her, had her entire bridal party murdered, and then sH๏τ her in the head. The Bride survives, although she ends up in a coma for four years. When she revives, The Bride sets out for revenge.

One of the actors Quentin Tarantino cast in the film was Michael Parks, a legendary actor from the 1960s and 1970s who Tarantino brought back to prominence. Parks played Ranger Earl McGraw, reprising the role he originated in the Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino collaboration From Dusk Till Dawn. However, Tarantino had another actor in mind for a different role. After a mishap at a table read, the director decided Parks was the best fit for a second role in the two-movie series.

Michael Parks Replaced Ricardo Montalbán In Kill Bill (Despite Already Having A Role)

Ricardo Montalbán Couldn’t Make The Table Read

When Quentin Tarantino cast Michael Parks as Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in Kill Bill, it was an easy decision for the director. He loved Parks’s acting, and the man had already played the same character in From Dusk Till Dawn, a film that Robert Rodriguez directed based on a Tarantino script. However, anyone who watched the Kill Bill movies might have realized that Parks played two different roles, including a Mexican man named Esteban Vihaio in Volume 2. However, that role was initially meant for Ricardo Montalbán.

In a discussion with Tom Segura on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, Tarantino explains what happened to Montalbán and how he gave the role to Parks instead. Tarantino calls Michael Parks one of his favorite actors and notes that he had already cast him as Earl McGraw. He then explained that he considers the all-cast script reading one of the biggest days of the movie’s production. However, when it came time for this reading, Ricardo Montalbán, who was cast as Esteban Vihaio, couldn’t make it.

“That’s a very, very important day for me because that’s like the closest to me actually seeing the movie finished before I start shooting the movie… I had actually cast Ricardo Montalbán to play Esteban and he couldn’t make it. Michael was there because he was playing the Texas Ranger role… I go, ‘Hey Mike, would you play Esteban?’ He said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ And, he did such a fantastic Esteban.”

This caused Tarantino to fire Montalbán from the movie and replace him with Parks. Tarantino said that Parks’ performance as Esteban “stole the show,” and that caused him to make the tough call. However, he also didn’t hold back on why letting the veteran actor go was easier than one might think:

“We paid off Ricardo Montalbán, and I cast Michael instead. His a** should have been at the fu**ing table read. If he had some place better to be, then we have some place better to be too. Michael Parks wasn’t too busy.”

Michael Parks Has Made Several Appearances In Other Tarantino Movies

He Appeared In Five Quentin Tarantino Projects

Michael Parks became a regular in Quentin Tarantino’s films. He played Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in From Dusk Till Dawn, where Richie Gecko kills him in the first scene. He reprised the role in Kill Bill and then again in both segments of Grindhouse (Planet Terror and Death Proof). He also played a role in Kill Bill Volume 2 as Esteban Vihaio, an 80-year-old Mexican pimp.

Finally, he appeared in the 2012 Quentin Tarantino Western movie Django Unchained as a LeQuint Dickey Mining Company Employee, a smaller role but one that is notable since Django killed him. He only had five more movies after that before pᴀssing away in 2017 at 77.

Source: YouTube