20 Facts About Pulp Fiction You Didn't Know
Pulp Fiction, which became one of the most popular films of all time, was filmed with a budget of only eight million. However, it exceeded all the creators' expectations and brought them almost 214 million dollars in the worldwide box office.
You can praise the artistic merits of the film and the director's unique style for a long time, but all this is unnecessary - to understand the charm of "Pulp Fiction", you just need to watch it. Then watch it again. And watch it again. And again... And also - Tarantino's creation is one of those cinematic masterpieces that you never get tired of.
Quentin Tarantino's now-classic film was first shown in May 1994 at the Cannes Film Festival. It was later seen by guests at other international festivals around the world, from Munich to Locarno, and it was not until September 23 at the New York Film Festival that the first American viewers were able to see it. The film was then released in South Korea, Japan, and Slovakia, and its first screening for the general American public took place on October 14, after which the film began its journey to cinemas in other countries.
The film's heroine, played brilliantly by Amanda Plummer, got her nickname in honor of the rabbit of Linda Chen, Quentin Tarantino's assistant, who retyped the film's script, written by hand by the director. Instead of payment, she asked Quentin to look after her pet rabbit named Honey Bunny while she was busy working, but the director did not heed her requests and the rabbit died some time later. Tarantino took care of the pet in his own way - his name became the nickname of the girlfriend of the character played by Tim Roth.
At first glance, the nonlinear narrative in the film is rather chaotic and confusing, but the film can be divided into seven main parts - a prologue, an epilogue, two introductions and three main stories, they are easily arranged in chronological order. Hint: the first part chronologically is the episode with Major Coolidge's gold watch.
And for Tarantino this is not the limit, for example, in his film Reservoir Dogs (in Russian distribution - "Reservoir Dogs") various variations of obscene phrases with this word are heard 269 times. Nevertheless, in 1994, not a single film was even close to "Pulp Fiction" in terms of the number of curses.
John Travolta's character in the film drives a luxurious 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu convertible, which belonged to the director himself. Shortly after filming ended, the Chevy was stolen, and more recently, in 2013, during an investigation into the theft of another car, California police stopped a cherry-colored Chevrolet in the vicinity of Oakland, which was a dead ringer for the car from Pulp Fiction. It later turned out that this was the same car that was stolen from Tarantino 19 years ago.
At the same time, $5 million went to pay for the star cast. The film recouped its profits in the first week of release in the United States - it collected $9.3 million over the weekend alone.
In the United States, the "R" rating means that children under 17 are allowed to see the film only if accompanied by a parent or guardian. Quentin Tarantino's creation lost to the action film True Lies (with box office receipts in the United States amounting to $146.2 million) and the film Speed ($121.2 million), while Pulp Fiction entered the top ten highest-grossing films of 1994, with Forrest Gump leading the way, with a result of $329.6 million.
Despite the fact that Pulp Fiction is now considered one of the most iconic films in the history of cinema, in the US the film collected $100 million in only 178 days of release. For comparison, the final part of the Harry Potter saga took only two days to do so.
Several of the film's characters were written by the director for specific actors, including Samuel L. Jackson, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, and Amanda Plummer. The director also intended to cast Michael Madsen, a character from his previous film, Reservoir Dogs, as Vic Vega. However, the actor was unable to take part in Pulp Fiction due to his commitments to the Western Wyatt Earp.
Because Madsen couldn't play Vic Vega in Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino changed the script, renaming the character Vincent, supposedly Vic Vega's brother. In the end, John Travolta played the role, which probably only benefited the film - with all due respect to Michael Madsen, Travolta played the role of the hired killer brilliantly.
The show's creators claim that a gay man named Gimp, who hid his face behind a leather mask and tried to rape Bruce Willis's character, prompted them to introduce a mysterious racer who would not reveal his incognito. He was also supposed to be called Gimp, but later the name Stig was chosen.
The young boxer was to be played by actor Matt Dillon - Tarantino wrote the role, seeing him as Butch Coolidge, but Dillon refused to participate in the filming due to lack of time. Harvey Keitel advised the director to cast Bruce Willis in the role, and the director, after thinking about it, corrected the script. Willis definitely succeeded in the role of the boxer, although he initially wanted to play Vincent Vega.
When Vincent and Lance try to save Mia Wallace from an overdose by giving her an adrenaline shot, Operation and The Game of Life are seen on a shelf in the background. A lesser-known fact is that Quentin Tarantino convinced John Travolta to play Vince by spending an evening playing Welcome Back Kotter, Grease, and Saturday Night Fever with him, all games Tarantino found in the actor's home when he came to offer him the role.
The paperback Vince is enjoying while on the toilet is Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise, based on his comic book series about the adventures of a female secret agent. The director is known for his love of the comic book character, having produced the 2003 film My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure.
Tarantino had several actresses to choose from, Mia could have been played by Isabella Rossellini, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Meg Ryan, Alfre Woodard, Halle Berry, Daryl Hannah, Rosanna Arquette, Joan Cusack or Michelle Pfeiffer. The latter was rumored to be the director's favorite.
The first posters released featured Uma Thurman smoking a Lucky Strike cigarette, but Miramax couldn't reach an agreement with the brand's copyright holder, so the print run was recalled and these posters are now considered a rarity. Those who managed to get hold of the originals sell them for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
Tarantino wanted Jackson to play Jules, but when Paul Calderon came to audition, the director was so impressed by his naturalness in the image that he almost approved him for the role. Jackson had to urgently fly to Los Angeles to get his role back.
Among the director's fans, there is an opinion that Captain Koontz, who gave young Butch his father's gold watch, is a descendant of the same Mad Craig Koontz, who is mentioned in the film "Django Unchained", according to the plot, he is wanted for murder and robbery.
Quentin Tarantino himself, as is well known, played the role of the boy Jimmy in the film. While in character, the director, for obvious reasons, could not monitor the filming, so Robert Rodriguez had to shoot the scenes with him. Later, they collaborated on a number of other projects, such as From Dusk Till Dawn and Grindhouse.
When filming the scene where Vincent Vega brings Mia Wallace back to life, the director had to resort to a trick. Quentin wanted it to look as authentic as possible, but it’s pretty hard to hit the right spot with a needle, especially for someone without medical experience. The adrenaline sequence was filmed like this: first, a syringe was stuck into Uma Thurman’s chest, and then John Travolta pulled it out. The footage was run in reverse order, so on screen it looked like Vince had actually stuck the syringe into her heart.