The actor Quentin Tarantino banned from starring in ‘Pulp Fiction’: “He’s out!”
It’s been a long time since a studio has leaned on Quentin Tarantino to try and influence his decision-making, with the writer and director one of the few auteurs in Hollywood who gets to craft their films with complete creative autonomy.
Obviously, that wasn’t the case in the early 1990s when he was first making a name for himself. Reservoir Dogs was cobbled together with the resources Tarantino could muster, and when it became a breakout word-of-mouth hit following its premiere at Sundance, independent cinema had found its next wunderkind.
The looming spectre of second-movie syndrome didn’t affect Tarantino in the slightest, with Pulp Fiction comfortably ranking among the greatest sophomore efforts in history. It made an even bigger impact than his debut, changed the face of America’s indie scene for better or worse, and confirmed him as the newest directorial heavyweight on the block.
However, suggestions were made because he was still relatively untested at the major studio level. Producer Mike Medavoy pushed hard for Johnny Depp to be cast in Pulp Fiction, but Tarantino wouldn’t budge. He got almost everybody he wanted to play the biggest roles, even if one of his top candidates was effectively barred from the ensemble for taking too long to think it over.
Bruce Willis took a significant pay cut to play Butch, and in terms of name value and star power, he was easily the biggest name in the cast. However, Tarantino had originally promised the gig to Matt Dillon and gave him the opportunity to peruse the screenplay before confirming his involvement.
“Quentin was a man of his word,” the two-time Academy Award winner’s agent, Mike Simpson, told Vanity Fair. “So he gave Matt the script and he read it and said, ‘I love it. Let me sleep on it.'” Because he wouldn’t agree to take the job on the spot, Tarantino had a change of heart and decided he didn’t want Dillon in the movie at all.
“Quentin then called me and said, ‘He’s out,'” Simpson explained. “If he can’t tell me face-to-face that he wants to be in the movie after he read the script, he’s out.” Butch Coolidge was Dillon’s for the taking, with Tarantino writing the part with the actor in mind, but his desire to actually read the thing before committing turned out to be the director’s breaking point.
Ironically, Dillon was on the list of names pre-approved by Miramax that Tarantino didn’t have to fight for, only for his Pulp Fiction dreams to go up in smoke. Reflecting on the what-if scenario, the filmmaker coyly suggested that Dillon “didn’t say no, but he didn’t say yes” either.
Based on how Tarantino’s agent remembers it, that hesitance cost him the role, and the pair have never worked together in the three decades since, which probably isn’t a coincidence.
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