Tom Cruise in a Quentin Tarantino film is something out of fantasy for some cinephiles. As it turns out, that particular fantasy was almost a reality.

The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director revealed in an interview that he actually considered Cruise for Brad Pitt’s role as Cliff Booth in the film. “We talked about it,” Tarantino shared speaking to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “He’s a great guy, and we really hit it off,” the filmmaker added.

The Django Unchained director said that working with the Top Gun star is still a possibility for another project, adding, “It could happen on something else.”

When Horowitz asked whether Tarantino always had Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio in mind of his film, the director reflected: “The reality of it was, people ask, ‘Was it always these two guys?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s the casting coup of the decade.”

I love Brad Pitt in this film but I also desperately want Tom Cruise in a QT film. In this chat Tarantino confirms Tom Cruise nearly played Brad Pitt's role in ONCE. "We talked about it. We really hit it off and it could happen on something else." https://t.co/SB03CH39wV

— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) July 23, 2019

“You can’t count on that. They both have to respond to it, they both have to want to play they roles, they have to be available. There’s a whole lot of stuff there,” he added.

Tarantino then went on to admit that the very lucky to wrangle the two major A-listers together. The director has worked with both actors previously, with Pitt in Inglourious Basterds Basterds (2009) and DiCaprio in Django Unchained (2012).

“The reality is, I had maybe eight different pairings of actors that could go together in a realistic way in this situation,” Tarantino shared. “Now, the ones that I got were definitely my No. 1s.”