Actor Austin Butler recently confirmed he had been in the running for Top Gun: Maverick but was unable to test for the part because it clashed with Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
During a conversation with Josh Horowitz for his Happy Sad Confused podcast, Butler said: “I ended up having to choose between going to the screen test for Top Gun: Maverick or saying yes to Quentin Tarantino.”
Ultimately, because he had wanted to work with 60-year-old Tarantino “for so long”, he opted to go for the Pulp Fiction director’s movie.
He added: “I’d already met with him, so I did that.”
Butler – who played Charles Watson, a member of Charles Manson’s cult, in the movie – previously admitted it had “always” been a “dream” of his to work with the Kill Bill filmmaker, and he had a particularly memorable moment one day on set.
He said on Hot Ones: “The first time that I heard this – it was just so cool, because I mean, I’ve talked a lot about how much Quentin meant to me, and it was just always my dream to work with him. We’re on set and he says, ‘Okay we got it, but we’re gonna do one more. You know why?’ And the entire crew screams, ‘Because we love making movies!’
“And the first time you’re there… you’re not in on it. And so, Brad (Pitt) and Leo (DiCaprio), everybody is like, ‘Because we love making movies!’
“There are sets that are so sterile. There are sets where there is no joy. There are sets where people are like, just at a job.
“And you’re trying to create something that you’re gonna give to the world, you know? And with Quentin, that was so cool, because it just changes the atoms in the room. And then you’re in on it! And so every new crew member, or actor, whoever, then suddenly they’re part of the tribe at that point, saying ‘We love making movies.’ ”
Top Gun: Maverick’s casting director, Denise Chamian, previously told Variety that Butler had been up for the role of Rooster, which ultimately went to Miles Teller.