Jerrod Carmichael says Django/Zorro project with Quentin Tarantino is dead in the water
Carmichael believes the adaptation of Tarantino's comic book would have been "a $500 million film"
The concept of a Django/Zorro feature film collaboration between Quentin Tarantino and Jerrod Carmichael always seemed like a bit of a fever dream, and it sounds like it will never be anything more than that. After the project had been announced back in 2019, Carmichael revealed in a recent GQ interview that it wasn’t moving forward.
“It’s actually an incredible, incredible script that came in from that Django/Zorro that I would love for Sony to figure out, but I realize the impossibility of it. But I still think we wrote a $500 million film,” Carmichael reflected. A cruel tease, given that we probably won’t ever see it.
Still, the comedian has fond memories of his time developing the adaptation of Tarantino’s comic book tie-in. “Quentin’s a lunatic who I love, and I’m happy that I got to spend the time. We saw exploitation flicks at the New Beverly, he read me scenes that never made it to his movies, that he had typed out, in his kitchen after making fresh-squeezed lemonade for me. It was really special,” he reminisced.
He also got to spend time with another Django alum: “One of the greatest moments of my life was Game Night at Leo [DiCaprio]’s house [in LA]. I’m sitting between Leo and Quentin, Leo’s passing a joint to me, and Quentin’s saying over me [to him], Have you seen Jerrod’s shit? And Leo’s like, Of course. And then they start quoting shit from 8 and Carmichael Show, back and forth to each other as I’m passing a joint back.” he says.
Al Pacino and Javier Bardem were also in attendance for this occasion, which sounds as much of a fever dream as Django/Zorro. The game, by the way, was “Wolf or something like Village. It’s one of those community things where you pretend to be something, and everyone has to guess if you’re lying or not,” Carmichael explained. “And you’re playing it with these Academy Award-winning actors. I’m like, Well, I don’t know. Are you a brilliant actor? Or are we playing a game still?” Okay, they either need to release Django/Zorro or a feature-length doc about this Game Night.