Kill Bill Almost Had Bruce Willis As Bill

Just about every film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino is a favorite amongst movie fans. From Reservoir Dogs to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, people adore QT’s work and consistently rewatch his entire library on a regular basis. There’s a reason people still ask the director about his past movies years after they arrived. To this day, fans still want to know more about movies like Kill Bill, and Tarantino continues to drop little nuggets of information here and there, always just enough to get film buffs talking.

Recently, Tarantino appeared on a new episode of the Reel Blend Podcast, and he opened up about the casting of Bill in the two Kill Bill films. David Carradine played the character on screen, but QT revealed that the role was first intended for Warren Beatty, and he even considered casting Bruce Willis at one point.

“I wrote [the character of] Bill for Warren Beatty and it ended up not working out,” Tarantino said. “And then I cast David Carradine, and kind of rewrote it for David Carradine. Bruce [Willis] would have been my third choice… When I read the original version of Kill Bill, it kind of cracks me up now, because it’s the Warren Beatty version.”

Willis would have been the third choice for Tarantino had Carradine passed, so there’s no telling exactly how close the Pulp Fiction star got to landing the part. However, as Tarantino explained in the interview, he wouldn’t have had to do much rewriting of the part had he gone with Willis.

“When I look at that original version, you know, Bill was a little bit more of an evil James Bond type,” he continued. “Okay? Rather than the Bondian villain, he was more like an evil bond. And he kind of had this, he had a Warren Beatty kind of quality about him. And frankly, to tell you the truth, I probably wouldn’t have to had rewritten it that much if I had cast Bruce in it. Bruce could have actually played that evil James Bond kind of character and I would have just leaned into his personality maybe just a little bit more. A little less Cristal. A little bit more Coors, all right. A little less champagne, a little more beer.”

Do you think Bruce Willis would have made a good Bill in Kill Bill? Let us know in the comments!