The 1994 cult classic Pulp Fiction put Quentin Tarantino on the map as a director. The crime film was a runaway hit, with audiences at the time having seen nothing like it. The film was extremely profitable to the studio Miramax, earning over $213 million at the box office. It won Tarantino an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
The film was also a renewed boost to actor John Travolta. The Grease star was going through a dry spell after a series of flops. He was cast as Vincent Vega after much resistance from the studio and after Tarantino fought for him. However, there was a time when the role was fought over by two stalwart actors, Bruce Willis and Daniel Day-Lewis.
How Did Quentin Tarantino Make Pulp Fiction?
The story of the development of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction is as interesting as the movie itself, albeit with less heroin and gangsters involved. Tarantino wrote an initial version of the film with writer Roger Avary as a short. He claimed that he wanted to make a trilogy of sorts with different characters crossing paths, something like a novel. Tarantino said,
“I got the idea of doing something that novelists get a chance to do but filmmakers don’t: telling three separate stories, having characters float in and out with different weights depending on the story.”
He wanted to take typical genre characters and stories and set them in the real world. The first story he wrote ended up becoming his debut directorial Reservoir Dogs. The director finished writing the script for Pulp Fiction while traveling to international film festivals with Reservoir Dogs. He wrote it in Amsterdam, with reports indicating that he was set up at the Red Light District.
After multiple studios rejected the script, Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender took the script to Miramax, which had recently been acquired by Disney. The firm was then headed by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who immediately liked the script. Pulp Fiction was the first film by Miramax to be independently financed by them. The film was budgeted at $8.5 million. The film was released to universal critical acclaim, with many branding it as one of the greatest films ever made.
Bruce Willis And Daniel Day-Lewis Fought Over One Role
Pulp Fiction was talked about widely even before filming began. Quentin Tarantino had placed a list of demands before Miramax, which included final-cut privileges, the final choice of actors, and a two-and-a-half-hour runtime. His wishlist of actors included John Travolta for the role of Vincent Vega. However, Miramax opposed the casting as Travolta was extremely undesirable at the time. But there was also another problem.
According to Tarantino’s agent Mike Simpson,
“Daniel Day-Lewis and Bruce Willis, who was the biggest star in Hollywood, had both gotten their hands on the script and wanted to play Vincent Vega.”
However, Tarantino was adamant about Travolta’s casting.
Simpson mentioned that Miramax tried to get out of the decision by trying to push the discussion, but Simpson was not going to have it.
“You’re going to agree to it right now, or there’s no deal.”
John Travolta was finally cast as Vincent Vega, with Bruce Willis appearing as Butch, the boxer. The Travolta casting paid off as the actor gained an Academy Award nomination for his performance and it revived his career. Simpson mentioned later that Miramax CEO Harvey Weinstein took the credit for casting Travolta at a screening.
Source: Vanity Fair
