Robert De Niro originally wanted to play Max Cherry in Jackie Brown, the role that eventually went to Robert Forster. However, Quentin Tarantino had written the role with Forster in mind and had already promised him the part. Tarantino explains…
“I wrote Jackie Brown, and I decided at some point in writing the script that Robert Forster would be terrific as Max Cherry. So, while I’m still writing the script, I bump into Robert Forster - we go to the same coffee shop.
….so I decided I’m gonna give him the part, because I figure, look, this would be a big, big deal part. So if I don’t give him the part, then once I’m done with it and it gets out in the town, then it’s gonna be Gene Hackman and Paul Newman and people like that, and it would be pretty hard to say no to.
But if I just give him the part right now, I’ve got the juice to get it through, and now I can’t take it back because I wouldn’t be a man of my word.
So to lock myself into that decision, I give it to him before I finish writing it.
And then now comes the time to do it. Robert De Niro reads it, and he wants to be in it, but he wants to play Max.
And I go, “Well, look, you would be a fantastic Max, but I’ve already given that to Robert Forster, and I’m a man of my word. I can’t take it back.”
Now, De Niro is very much a man of his word, so he understands that. He gets that.
And he’s just like, “Yeah, yeah. That’s just disappointing. It’s just regretful.”
I go, “What?”
“Well, just because, you know, you were thinking about him, so you wrote it for him. But if we had had more dinners and hung out a little bit more, then you would have been thinking about me and you would have written it for me. And I understand what happened, but that could have been changed if we had spent more time with each other before this.”
And so he kind of gives me the – “just think about it for a couple of days, all right? - and then let’s talk again. Maybe Bob (Robert Foster) could play Louis, the other guy.”
So then I actually have Bob read Louis with me, and then read Max. And if that could work, maybe that could work. But no, everything that made him perfect for Max made him wrong for Louis.
And so I get on the phone with De Niro — and I go, “Yeah, you know, I explored that. But no, everything about him that makes him perfect for Max makes him wrong to play this ex-convict guy.”
And he goes, “Yeah, yeah, I get that. I get that, I get that, I get that. Okay, so tell me about this Louis character.”
And I go, “You would consider playing Louis?”
“Yeah, it’s a good character. It’s a good movie. I wanna be part of it. It’s a good character. I wanted the other character, but yeah, this is a good character. I’d be happy to play it.”
I go, “Well, you didn’t let me know that before.”
He goes, “Well, I didn’t wanna let you off the hook. I wanted you on the hook. But now if that ship has sailed, then let’s talk about Louis.”
And then it was a done deal.”