The studio-approved actor who blew their shot at being forced into ‘Pulp Fiction’: “He didn’t say no”
It’s been 30 years since Quentin Tarantino had to battle against studio executives for creative control over one of his films, with Pulp Fiction underlining that the suits were better off leaving him alone.
The seminal crime thriller wasn’t a particularly expensive movie, but it cost three times as much to produce as Reservoir Dogs and marked the precocious auteur’s first time working with a major Hollywood outfit, so he still hadn’t reached a point in his career where he could write his own ticket.
Obviously, that changed when Pulp Fiction became a critical, commercial, and awards season favourite that changed American independent cinema forever, securing Tarantino’s reputation as someone who talked a big game and could back it up through acclaim and cold, hard box office cash.
Since he was still relatively new and untested in dealing with the suits, the filmmaker was presented with an extensive list of performers to consider for his ensemble cast. Among them were some of the biggest names in the business, but the likes of Johnny Depp, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Nicolas Cage always felt unrealistic, especially when Tarantino had his own ideas in mind.
For the most part, he secured either the first or second choice for every major role, with Bruce Willis’ Butch Coolidge the exception. He wasn’t even on the list, but he was such a fan of Reservoir Dogs that he sweet-talked Tarantino into hiring him. It helped that he took a massive pay cut and made the picture profitable before it had even started shooting, once his name helped sell off the overseas rights.
Unfortunately, that left Matt Dillon up shit creek without a paddle, which was also partly his fault. “We needed one, if not two, Miramax-approved actors in the cast,” Tarantino explained on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast. “And from that point on, you can cast anybody you want in the roles as long as they had somebody they considered a ‘name’ that they could sell. So, Matt Dillon kind of fell into the ‘name’ category they would accept.”
The part was written with him in mind, and he was even given the courtesy of perusing the top-secret screenplay. “He read, and he wasn’t so sure,” Tarantino continued. “He liked it, but he was disturbed by the fact that there wasn’t actually any boxing. He wanted to see Butch actually boxing. He was really, ‘I want to see the fight.’ Maybe, he didn’t 100% get it.”
Instead, having failed to wrap his head around Butch’s storyline, he asked to play Vincent Vega, a request Tarantino wouldn’t grant. “So, he didn’t say no,” he cryptically hinted. “But he didn’t say yes.” Dillon was Miramax’s preferred candidate, but after delaying his decision about starring in Pulp Fiction, he ended up shooting himself in the foot when he found himself taken off the list, with the two parts he was eying being awarded to Willis and John Travolta instead.
He might have been the studio’s guy, but Pulp Fiction was Tarantino’s film, and he wasn’t compromising.
