11 Things We Learned From Quentin Tarantino On Joe Rogan Experience
4. Mickey Rourke Was Wanted For Stuntman Mike
The Stuntman Mike character in Death Proof was famously played by Kurt Russell and his glorious, glorious jawline. But originally, the plan was for Mickey Rourke to play the nefarious figure in QT's 2007 picture.
Tarantino revealed this when Joe Rogan asked him whether Russell was always the first choice for Stuntman Mike.
"It was gonna be Mickey Rourke, and Mickey wanted to do it, but then his agent started, like, 'Well, they need Mickey'. So the agent starting f**king with us. It was one of those things where Robert [Rodriguez] was doing his movie, Planet Terror, first, so I'm waiting to do mine when he gets done. The agent was f**king around with us, and I was literally, 'Okay, look. Here's one of the offers. You have until 9 o'clock Friday night to accept or reject'. And they just let that deadline blow by, so that was it."
From there, Tarantino would get together with Robert Rodriguez to come up with an alternate to Rourke, and it was then that Kurt Russell was decided on. The Death Proof script was sent to Russell, he loved it, and the rest is history.
Quentin also reiterated how he had spoken to Mickey Rourke and sent him the Death Proof screenplay, with Rourke keen on the project. It was only once Mickey's agent got involved that that deal went south.