Movies

Does Kurt Russell Connect ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ to ‘Death Proof’?

Published

5 years ago

May 21, 2019

Quentin Tarantino has become known for tying his movies together inside something of a shared universe, one that’s much more subtle than any other cinematic universe out there. Vincent Vega and Vic Vega, John Travolta and Michael Madsen’s characters from Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, for example, are brothers, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Now hear me out. In Tarantino’s ninth film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the great Kurt Russell is clearly playing some sort of cigarette-smoking stuntman type character, as revealed in today’s brand new trailer for the movie. In other words, Russell looks to be playing a character who’s pretty damn similar to his character from Death Proof, Stuntman Mike.

But is Russell actually playing Stuntman Mike in Once Upon a Time? Given the timeline – Once Upon a Time is set in 1969, while 2007’s Death Proof was set in the present – that seems highly unlikely. Kurt Russell has aged like a fine wine, to be sure, but there’s no way Stuntman Mike could possibly look pretty much exactly the same in 1969 as he does decades later.

But let’s not forget something Stuntman Mike mentions in Death Proof. When he’s asked how he got into the stunt business, he says that his brother got him into it: Stuntman Bob.

Presumably then, Stuntman Bob is Stuntman Mike’s *older* brother, so it’s entirely possible that Kurt Russell is playing Stuntman Bob in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Again, this sort of movie-to-movie connection is the kind of thing Tarantino loves to weave into his work, and if we’re on the money here, it’d likely come in the form of a passing reference.

Then again, the new character could even be Mike and Bob’s father. Thoughts?

John Squires

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

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Movies

’28 Years Later’ – Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join Long Awaited Sequel

Published

1 hour ago

April 24, 2024

Meagan Navarro

28 Days Later, Ralph Fiennes in the Menu

Pictured: Ralph Fiennes in 'The Menu'

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).

The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.

No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.

28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.

Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.

The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”

Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.

Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!