7 Mouth-Watering Films Quentin Tarantino Almost Made

2. 40 Lashes Less One

After the Oscar-winning success Tarantino endured for Pulp Fiction, the director asked the Weinsteinʼs to buy the rights to several novels by Elmore Leonard for potential future projects. They bought Rum Punch, which Tarantino adapted into Jackie Brown. There was also Killshot, which John Madden ended up making a mess of in 2008, with Tarantino having his executive producer credit removed in fear of association. Amongst a stack of other Leonard novels that were purchased and toyed with, 40 Lashes Less One was the one that came the closest to production. The book concerns two prisoners - an Apache and a former black soldier - who are on death row and given a chance to be set free if they hunt for five of the worst outlaws. Kinda sounds like Django Unchained? Well, maybe he did use some of its material to inspire his slave-western, but reports back in 2000 suggested Tarantino was actually making 40 Lashes Less One in Mexico with a view to having it finished in time for Cannes 2001.

However, Cannes happened and no Tarantino movie was in sight. Soon enough, word got out that there was no such film in the works, and QT had only written 20 or so pages of its script before setting it aside. He has mentioned on a number of occasions that he felt emotionally removed from Jackie Brown because it was an adaptation of an existing piece of literature. So, maybe that is why we never got to see, and likely never will, 40 Lashes Less One.