LOS ANGELES — Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has announced his official foray into comedy with a Monty Python-inspired project titled Snake Belly.
“I’ve included comical sequences in my previous films, but this time I want to make a movie that is clearly in the comedy genre,” said the famed director, barely audible under a pile of obscure vinyl. “And Monty Python just seems like the perfect style to pay homage to. They truly were pioneering geniuses in the genre. I mean, when that giant foot smashes everything in the opening titles, it’s such a golden nugget. It’s a self-reflective moment acknowledging the inherent destructiveness of comedy. I’d like to explore that further, with life-sized props instead of the stop motion cutouts. Really feeling the visceral experience of all that garbage squishing through those giant, dirty toes. For the comedy, I mean. It will be hilarious.”
Although the plot will follow an original story mapped by Tarantino, the film will also contain subtle nods to classic Python sketches.
“We’re for sure going to work the ‘silly walks’ sketch into it somewhere,” said Tarantino. “I’m already in talks with Uma about that role. We’ll have her in the same costume John Cleese wore but barefoot and with the pants rolled halfway up her calves.”
As is often the case with Tarantino’s projects, the film will contain elements from other genres as well, including a kaiju monster storyline.
“We’ll have the giant foot attacking London, stepping on everything, people running for their lives. But one poor soul — a staunch businessman, played by me — just isn’t fast enough. He trips over his own umbrella and the kaiju foot comes down right on his face. But he’s still alive. So the foot comes down on him again, even harder. But still, he isn’t dead — a classic Python moment of absurdity. And now the foot is getting angry, it really wants to smash this guy so it starts grinding him into the wet London pavers, just twisting him under the ball and force pounding repeatedly with the heel. The man’s face is filthy with foot grime and there’s a huge wad of sweaty, pungent lint in his mouth. All this is happening while ‘Baba Yaga’ by The Pagans plays on a loop. This sequence will last about ten minutes. I want the audience to have time to get all their laughs out before moving on with the scene because this is all very highbrow stuff. It’s funny, you understand. It’s for the comedy.”
As of press time, Tarantino was still talking about that sequence.
