There is only one time in his entire career that Quentin Tarantino considered directing somebody else’s script, and that was for the still-unmade Sgt. Rock. Quentin Tarantino’s movies have been defined by his ear for great dialogue, bursts of shocking violence, and countless nods to films that have influenced his own work.

While Tarantino has considered directing movies like Casino Royale or Star Trek 4 in the past, he has since decided that every movie he directs should be his own original creation. He has written every one of his films, with only 1998’s Jackie Brown being based on somebody else’s work; in this case, Elmore Leonard’s crime novel Rum Punch.

The thrill of hearing fresh Tarantino dialogue is part of the appeal of his movies, so it makes sense that he never works from another writer’s script. That could have changed back in the late 1990s when he was offered an adaptation of the DC comic Sgt. Rock from action producer Joel Silver.

Quentin Tarantino Loved David Webb Peoples’ Sgt. Rock Script So Much He Considered Directing It

The draft of Sgt. Rock that hooked Tarantino was penned by David Webb Peoples, the writer behind Blade Runner and Unforgiven. Speaking with American Cinematheque in 2010 (via Deep Glamour), QT was specifically asked if he had ever considered working from another writer’s script, and he spoke glowingly of Peoples’ draft.

The only script I ever read that really made me consider directing somebody else’s piece was….I had started – this was back in ’98 – I had started writing Inglorious Basterds, so I was definitely on a WWII vibe, and Joel Silver sent me the David Webb People’s version of Sgt Rock, and it was fantastic. It was – they’re not doing it – they’ve rewritten it and turned it into Iraq or placed in the future. I don’t know what they’ve done. But his version of that story was so good. It was like the only time I’ve ever completely read a script by somebody else that I just saw a fantastic movie. I just saw a classic movie that I had just never seen before.

While he didn’t go into detail about why this Sgt. Rock screenplay affected him so much, it must have been a stellar piece to tempt Tarantino to take it on. For context, Sgt. Rock is a movie that Joel Silver had been trying to make since the late 1980s, with the comic even being featured in the credits of Predator.

Other major writers had taken a crack at Sgt. Rock before Peoples too, including John Milius (Red Dawn) and Steven E. de Souza (Die Hard) drafting different takes on the WW2-era hero. Tarantino only considered the project for a couple of weeks, getting to the point where he drew up casting lists.

Tarantino flirted with different comic properties in his early career, considering live-action takes on Luke Cage and The Silver Surfer. It really sounds like Sgt. Rock is the closest he came to pulling the trigger on one – until he talked himself out of it.

Tarantino Pᴀssed On Sgt Rock Because He Didn’t Want To Direct Another Writer’s Script

Had Tarantino helmed Sgt. Rock, it would have hit screens a good decade before Inglourious Basterds. In hindsight, it’s hard to imagine Tarantino signing on for a Joel Silver produced blockbuster, let alone one adapted from a DC comic. It just wouldn’t have felt entirely his, which is why he let it go.

And, it spoke to me, it was terrific, and for a couple weeks, I considered it. But I never talked to Joel Silver about it, because I just wasn’t ready to do that. But I considered it for two weeks, I made casting lists on it, and I thought about it, but then I gave it up. And I thought, “You know, I wasn’t put on the Earth to do this. I was put on the Earth to look at a blank page and fill it.

Development on Sgt. Rock would continue, but it never swung back around to Tarantino. It’s kind of fascinating to imagine how QT’s career would have evolved had he made it. Would it have affected Tarantino’s famous ten-movie retirement plan, and would he have been open to working from other writers’ scripts in the future?

It’s interesting to think about, but it worked out how it was supposed to. Love him or hate him, Tarantino is one of only a handful of filmmakers who is truly given the power to make any kind of film he wants, and Tarantino’s Sgt. Rock wouldn’t have been worth trading for an original like Kill Bill.

The Sgt Rock Movie Has A Cursed Production History

Despite a Sgt. Rock movie having been in various stages of development since the 1980s, it has yet to happen. The earliest iteration would have been a Silver-produced movie directed by Predator’s John McTiernan. Being the biggest star in the world at the time, it made some sense for Arnold Schwarzenegger to take on the part.

This was despite the star being famously very Austrian, but this aspect would have been worked into the story, with Arnie’s Rock also being able to speak German. The McTiernan/Schwarzenegger movie could have been an action classic too, with screenwriting giant Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) attached as writer.

This take later fell apart when comedy icon John Cleese (Monty Python) refused to co-star, despite a major role being written with him in mind. Cleese’s flat-out rejection took the wind out of McTiernan’s sails, so he left the project. Despite this, Silver kept trying to get Sgt. Rock off the ground during the 1990s and 2000s.

Writers like Milius and Brian Helgeland (Payback) came and went in the next decade, but the project didn’t take any meaningful steps forward. Sgt. Rock flared to life once again in the late 2000s, when Guy Ritchie came aboard as director and Bruce Willis was linked to the тιтle role.

Despite things finally looking up, Ritchie would leave to helm Silver’s Sherlock Holmes instead. Willis also departed the production, with Silver then ordering the setting changed from World War 2 to a futuristic battlefield. The Hunger Games‘ Francis Lawrence signed up for his version, but again, it failed to press ahead.

Silver has since departed Sgt. Rock too, but in 2024, it was confirmed that Daniel Craig and director Luca Guadagnino (Challengers) were going to bring the comic to the big screen finally. Then cracks began to appear; Craig dropped out in early 2025, and despite Colin Farrell being rumored as his replacement, the movie was canceled.

Reportedly, DC Studios head James Gunn felt that rewrites on Sgt. Rock wasn’t making it any better. Since he made it a mandate for his DC slate to have solid screenplays in place before cameras roll, he decided it was better to cancel the film than to push ahead on something he knew wasn’t going to work.

Where that leaves a prospective Sgt. Rock adaptation is currently unknown. The odds of QT making it his tenth and final movie are slim to none, though Tarantino did tell The Playlist in 2021 that he still loves David Webb Peoples’ screenplay and “… I still think about doing that from time to time.”

Source: American Cinematheque/Deep Glamour, The Playlist