Hollywood Popular Artists

Nov 20th 2012, 21:51

With the "Tarantino XX" Blu-ray collection hitting store shelves today, now seems like as good a time as any to take a look back at one of the most influential filmmakers of our generation. MTV News has an exclusive look at one of the bonus features on this exciting boxed set, which shows Pam Grier talking about the moment she first learned Quentin Tarantino wanted her to play the title character in "Jackie Brown."

"They delivered this manuscript in a manila envelope and it says 'QT' in the corner and there's all these little stamps all over it, and I'm going, 'Okay, I'll open it,' and there it is: 'Jackie Brown,'" she remembers in the clip, which comes from "The World's Greatest Showman" special feature. "So I read it, and there's a note and it says, 'Please read it and call me when you read it.' And I'm reading it, and I'm going, 'Oh my god, it's remarkable, it's extraordinary.'"

Grier said she assumed that she would play the role of Samuel L. Jackson's "drugged-out pimp girlfriend," which eventually went to Bridget Fonda. When she called up Tarantino to tell him what she thought of the script, though, she was in for a big surprise.

"I call him and he goes, 'What did you think? I thought you didn't like it, I've been waiting for three weeks,'" she said. "I said, 'I like the Bridget Fonda role,' and he says, 'No, Jackie Brown is for you. You're going to play Jackie Brown.' And I went, 'I am?'"

Grier added, "The world stopped because someone who is a director, an artist, a craftsman of this magnitude would write something for me. I was speechless."

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