John Travolta has reportedly been cast in Quentin Tarantino’s next film, joining his Pulp Fiction co-star Samuel L. Jackson on the rumoured cast list.
According to Hollywood insider Jeff Sneider (via World Of Reel), Travolta is set to have a role in The Movie Critic. It’s said the whole film has already been cast but due to the Hollywood strikes, no official announcement has been made.
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Jackson was previously rumoured to have been cast in the film. In an interview with Vulture from July, the actor replied “no comment” when asked about the reports.
Earlier this year, reports claimed Tarantino also wanted to give Bruce Willis a role in the project to mark his last ever film appearance, following the actor’s frontotemporal dementia diagnosis.
Travolta, Jackson and Willis all starred in 1994’s Pulp Fiction, directed by Tarantino. Jackson has collaborated with Tarantino on several projects since, including Jackie Brown, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight.
Earlier this month, Paul Walter Hauser (I, Tonya, Blackbird) was rumoured to have been cast in the lead role as fictional film critic Jim Sheldon.
Speaking to Deadline earlier this year about The Movie Critic, Tarantino said the project – set in Southern California in 1977 – would be based on a real-life critic for a porno magazine.
“He wrote about mainstream movies and he was the second-string critic,” the director said. “I think he was a very good critic. He was cynical as hell. His reviews were a cross between early Howard Stern and what Travis Bickle might be if he were a film critic.”
An early cast list for Pulp Fiction which circulated earlier this year revealed both Travolta and Jackson were second choices for their roles, behind Michael Madsen and Laurence Fishburne.
