Jackie Brown

Based on the novel "Rum Punch" by Elmore Leonard

RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 25, 1997

Starring Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert DeNiro, Bridget Fonda, and Michael Keaton.

The new film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, the creator of Pulp
Fiction, is this crime caper based on the novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard.
Pam Grier stars in the title role of Jackie Brown, and attractive stewardess
who supplements her income by smuggling cash _into_ the country for an
illegal arms dealer--until the day federal agents bust her. The only way
she'll stay out of jail is to set up a sting to bring in a half million
dollars and bring down the gun runner. In this web of dangerous characters,
she should be wondering: how will she stay alive? But all she's thinking
about is: how can she make off with the money?
- Jackie Brown Official Synopsis

Well, it's been over three years since the last "real" Tarantino film, Pulp Fiction, was released into theaters on the unsuspecting general populous. Since then, we've been waiting for Quentin Tarantino to direct a new project that would fully utilize his amazing talents at screenwriting and directing. It looks like the wait is almost over. On December 19th, Miramax Films will release the newest feature written and directed by the Auteur of Auteurs, Quentin Tarantino.

Jackie Brown is a crime drama starring Pam Grier as the title character, Jackie Brown, a call girl / flight attendant who is caught with $10,000 in cash and a small amount of cocaine. The story works in a variety of characters (a Tarantino specialty) and includes Samuel L. Jackson as gunrunner / drug dealer Ordell Robbie, Robert DeNiro as a gun obsessed ex-con, plus Michael Keaton and Bridget Fonda as a stoned beach bunny who bounces between DeNiro and Jackson.

The cast of Jackie Brown garnered the coveted cover of Entertainment Weekly's Fall Movie Preview, which highlighted over 136 movies coming out this fall. According to EW, the upside of this film is that "We've been waiting three years to see a real Quentin Tarantino movie" and the downside is that "we have to wait until December?".

According to EW, Pam Grier auditioned for the role that eventually went to Rosanna Arquette. While Tarantino felt that she wasn't the best for that role, he made Grier a promise. "I'm gonna work with you, I'm gonna come up with something." Rum Punch had always been a book that Tarantino had dreamed of adapting as a film, and he figured that this would be a perfect role for Pam Grier to do. However, in adapting the book, a great deal of things had to be changed in order to give Grier's character the lead. He retitled the story, moved its location from Florida to California and changed the main character from a white woman to a black woman. Author Elmore Leonard was surprisingly understanding about these changes. He said "You're the filmmaker--use what you want and make your movie."

On August 18, 1997, TIME magazine published an article on Tarantino and the Jackie Brown project, you can check it out here.

Fellow Tarantino fan Michael Dequina visited the set of Jackie Brown during shooting.
Visit his page, A Tale of Two Mr. Brown's for the story.