Quentin Tarantino Once Said He Wanted To Put His Own 'Spin' On A Classic Sci-Fi Movie

Quentin Tarantino keeps saying that his next film will be his last. What that project entails has yet to be revealed, but it seems that the "Pulp Fiction" director is in no rush to make it. Given that he's built a career on originality, his cinematic swan song probably won't be a remake of an acclaimed sci-fi flick. Be that as it may, Tarantino expressed an interest in rebooting "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" in 2014 — but his version would have been unlike previous incarnations of the story.

"A series that I would like to put a spin on is the Invasion of the Body Snatchers," Tarantino said during a 2014 San Diego Comic-Con panel. "I want to take it from the pod people's perspective, so you're actually rooting for the pod people. I don't think they're so bad."

Based on Jack Finney's novel "The Body Snatchers," the story sees aliens invade the Earth and replace humans. The original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" film was released in 1956, and it's a classic. However, Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake is one of the best alien invasion movies ever made, and subsequent takes on the concept — like Abel Ferrara's "Body Snatchers" and Robert Rodriguez's "The Faculty" — are terrifying in their own right.

Tarantino's idea sounds like a fresh spin on the story. Many of his films are morally gray tales that center around criminals, and it would have been interesting to see him apply his sensibilities to extraterrestrial invaders. Only time will tell if Tarantino returns to this project, but it isn't the only sci-fi property he's expressed an interest in reimagining.

Back in 2019, Quentin Tarantino revealed that a script existed for an R-rated "Star Trek" movie which he compared to "Pulp Fiction." It was also inspired by the classic episode "A Piece of the Action," which sees the Enterprise crew visit a planet that's reminiscent of 1920s America and populated with gangsters who carry Tommy guns. Tarantino has also stated that he wants to make an old-fashioned gangster movie, so "Star Trek" could have allowed him to kill two birds with one stone.

Tarantino's "Star Trek" movie appears to be dead in the water, but sci-fi is a genre that interests him. In the aforementioned Comic-Con interview, he discussed having an idea for an Earthbound sci-fi project, but he didn't share any details. Tarantino has yet to direct a movie that's even remotely fantastical, so maybe he'll use his final movie to scratch his sci-fi itch.

Based on the strength of Tarantino's body of work, he has it in him to make an all-time great sci-fi film. Still, many fans probably wish that he got to put his spin on "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Star Trek" when those projects were higher on his to-do list.