Across nine films, Quentin Tarantino has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, from Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Jamie Foxx, and Uma Thurman to Al Pacino, Bruce Dern, Robert Forster, Michael Keaton, Christoph Waltz, and Margot Robbie. It doesn’t matter if you’re currently the biggest star in the world or haven’t seen a leading role in a decade; with Tarantino, every actor is in play.
With only one film left in his 10-feature plan, there are still hundreds of talented actors who have yet to grace the big screen along with the words “Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.” From burgeoning stars to actors in desperate need of a comeback role, here are 10 Actors Who Should Make Their Quentin Tarantino Debut in His Final Movie.
10. Jack O’Connell
Admittedly, this pick may be coming from my desire to see Jack O’Connell in everything, but I think it’s a natural fit. Jack O’Connell plays the Tarantino-style villain in both Sinners and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and in both performances, he’s a showstopper. It would make sense to give him something equal parts bonkers and violent, and just let him run wild with it. Even though Tarantino’s last couple of films have been straight stinkers (I said what I said), O’Connell would be perfect casting for a film that’s a return to form.
–Valerie Morreale
9. Lindsay Lohan
No director is better at reminding an audience how much they loved seeing an actor on the big screen like Tarantino. The man was responsible for John Travolta’s ’90s career resurgence, while Jackie Brown gave Pam Grier and Robert Forster their first leading roles in years. Lohan has slowly been getting back into acting, but her comeback has mostly been limited so far to bland Netflix holiday rom-coms and a Disney legacy sequel. If she really wants to leave her early career behind, though, she needs Tarantino to work his magic and give her a juicy supporting role that’ll remind everyone that she was going places in the 2000s before her personal life derailed her career.
–Marmaduke Karlston
8. Teyana Taylor
A no-brainer with the intensity that Taylor brought with the recent One Battle After Another. Even just being in its first act, her presence continues through the entire experience solely based on her incredibly strong impression and unforgettable energy. Through her sexual dynamism, aggression, and feistiness, it’s without a doubt that she would fit perfectly into something within Tarantino’s crazy and often crime-ridden sensibilities.
–Tyler Harner
7. Jesse Plemons
I can’t think of a better actor to embody a Tarantino supporting character than Jesse Plemons. He can play the charming everyman, a chilling menace, a goofy lackey, or simply slip between them all in a heartbeat. I would love to hear Jesse deliver a QT monologue with his deadpan humor, similar to Game Night, or his uncomfortable, menacing nature, like in Civil War. I’m sure Quentin could come up with something magical for Plemons, and I would love to see it.
–Vincent Kane
6. Eddie Murphy
Quentin Tarantino has built an entire side-legacy on dragging legends back into the spotlight, dusting them off, and reminding the world why they mattered in the first place.John Travolta was box office poison before Tarantino singlehandedly made him a star again. Robert Forster was all but forgotten before Jackie Brown earned him an Oscar nom and the star of that movie—Pam Grier—went from a blaxploitation bombshell into a movie star overnight. If Tarantino really is heading toward his final film, there’s something almost poetic about handing that same resurrection treatment to Eddie Murphy, a performer who once felt untouchable, electric, operating on a level of charisma that very few actors ever reach, but who hasn’t had that one undeniable, era-defining performance in years. Murphy doesn’t need saving; he needs a stage, and Tarantino doesn’t just build stages; he builds arenas where actors get to remind audiences who they are with one perfectly calibrated role. The kind that mixes danger, humor, and mythmaking into something unforgettable. Murphy is a once-in-a-generation talent and needs a director like QT to remind everyone why he’s a legend.
–Sailor Monsoon
5. Tom Cruise
There was a time when Tom Cruise embraced the idea of working with all-time great directors, giving himself over to whatever vision they had for how to use him as an actor within their movies. He’s worked with everyone from Scorsese to Spielberg to Coppola to PTA. The only person missing from that list is QT. Plus, we know that Tarantino has a knack for casting movie stars in roles that help us reshape our view of their place in Hollywood – Leo’s first villain role, the rebirth of Travolta’s career, the list goes on. The possibilities of what kind of magic TC and QT could create together are endless.
–Raf Stitt
4. Mia Goth
While Goth is known for great performances across the genre spectrum, she’s really in her element in the zany, bloody, and over-the-top films like Pearl and Infinity Pool. She really has an almost Victorian appearance to her, and her demeanor would fit in well in a Tartantino story, which is often set in an ahistorical timeframe. Because of her range, she could easily work as the distressed victim or the sniveling villain with equal fun. While it’s unlikely with her ever full and expanding resume of film and television, this is one I’d love to see.
–Valerie Morreale
3. Billy Crudup
Whether it’s been the casually destructive nature of Russell from Almost Famous, the reluctant emotion of Sam from Rudderless, or the devastating subtlety of Timothy from Jay Kelly, Billy Crudup has always been a master of helping to define a movie’s tone. He’s an actor that can manage both leads and supporters with nuance and never feels like he’s hitting the same performance twice. With Tarantino, I really think Crudup could really show some of those fantastic character chops he’s been consistently doing since the mid-90s while finding a perfect place within Tarantino’s usually unique style.
–Tyler Harner
2. Nicolas Cage
Nic Cage gets a lot of flak for being a bad actor in bad films, which is partially correct, but every now and then, he reminds people that he can actually act with the right project. Cage being in a Tarantino film would be the right project. You could picture him in numerous QT types of roles spewing his dialogue in Cagey ways. A seedy Hollywoodite, a foul-mouthed cowboy, a cool guy in the wrong place and the wrong time, a dirty cop, or countless other characters that only Tarantino can dream up. Cage just seems like the most obvious, perfect pick, that it’s amazing that it hasn’t ever happened.
–Vincent Kane
1. Jack Nicholson
Tarantino’s last film will be an event regardless of whatever it ends up being. He’s closing the door on an incredible legacy, and if he wants to make it as big a send-off as possible, the first person he should approach is Jack Nicholson. Casting Nicholson isn’t about nostalgia; it’s cinematic confrontation. Nicholson isn’t just a legend, he’s a destabilizing force. The kind of actor who makes every scene feel like it could tilt off its axis at any second, and Tarantino, for all his love of controlled chaos, rarely works with performers who feel truly unpredictable in that raw, dangerous way anymore.
Even if it’s a small role like Pacino in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or Dern in The Hateful Eight, Nicholson has enough old-school movie star chemistry to burn a hole in the screen and potentially end up with one last Oscar nomination. Tarantino’s been obsessed with endings as of late. Not just his own but the idea of “the end of an era.” Nicholson embodies that theme better than almost anyone alive and instead of giving him a victory lap, Tarantino could use him as a symbol of the old guard refusing to die quietly. Tarantino’s last movie feels like the death of a certain kind of cinema, so who better than Nicholson to stand in the middle of it, staring it down, daring it to end.
–Sailor Monsoon
Who do you think Tarantino should work with for the first time on his tenth movie? Comment below with your picks.