The Oscar-nominated actor Laurence Fishburne is a renowned face of Hollywood. Throughout his career, the actor has been a part of many incredible films, but there have also been some iconic roles that he has missed during his career. One of them is Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction.
The film received widespread critical acclaim and earned notable commercial success and later became a classic. According to Tarantino, he wrote a prominent role while keeping Fishburne in his mind, however, he turned it down. Later, the role went to Marvel star Samuel L. Jackson.
Laurence Fishburne missed out on an iconic role
Quentin Tarantino is a renowned filmmaker known for his unique style. Among many of his best works is the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. The movie was a big hit of its time and its credit goes to its intriguing plotline curated by Tarantino and a very talented star cast including Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and many more. Interestingly, Jackson would have never made it to the film, if actor Laurence Fishburne hadn’t rejected the role in the first place.
Jackson portrayed the role of Jules Winnfield, which according to the director was originally written for Fishburne, but he turned it down. Tarantino claimed that Fishburne rejected the role of Jules because it wasn’t a leading part.
However, Fishburne contradicted this narrative given by Tarantino and revealed the actual reason for rejecting the role. The actor said,
“I just had a problem with the way the heroin use was dealt with. I just felt it was a little cavalier, and it was a little loose. I felt like it made heroin use attractive. For me, it’s not just my character. It’s, ‘What is the whole thing saying?’…It wasn’t about my character in ‘Pulp Fiction.’ It was about the way in which the heroin thing was delivered. And the whole f*cking thing with the hypodermic and the adrenaline shot? No.”
A year later, Fishburne was cast in the crime-drama-film Bad Company. Unfortunately, the film didn’t perform well, neither critically nor commercially. However, the actor got his big break with the 1995 film The Matrix.
All about the 1994 classic: Pulp Fiction
Though Laurence Fishburne turned down the offer to be a part of the cult classic film, Pulp Fiction, due to creative differences, the actor agreed that the film indeed plays a major part in giving Jackson’s career a boost, as the role of Jules opened a lot of doors for the actor.
The 1994 film, tells the tale of several interconnected stories of crime and focuses on the quickry characters in Los Angeles. The film features a star-studded star cast including, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, and more.
The film was a great success, both critically and financially, and was honored with seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won the Best Original Screenplay Award for Tarantino and Best Supporting Actor for Samuel L. Jackson.
Pulp Fiction is available for streaming on Max.
Source: The Things
