Pulp Fiction: How Vincent Vega saved John Travolta’s career
The past few years have seen pop artists reclaiming the influence of disco, releasing hit singles inspired by the genre that was once considered rather uncool. Yet, back in the 1970s, while guitar-based genres such as punk and heavy metal took off, disco provided a much more danceable, optimistic alternative. The genre became massive, with much of its popularity aided by the success of the film Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta.
The actor, who had recently starred in the horror classic Carrie and the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, landed the role of Tony Manero, a working-class shop assistant who escapes the humdrum nature of his life by dancing at the discothèque. The movie was a major hit, grossing a whopping $237million against a budget of just $3m.
Travolta’s performance was highly praised – he even earned an Oscar nomination – leading him to appear in the hit musical Grease the following year. Travolta was one of the biggest stars in the industry, championing country music in Urban Cowboy in 1980.
It appeared as though Travolta fared best in musicals and family-friendly roles. When he reunited with Carrie director Brian De Palma for Blow Out, the movie performed poorly, suggesting that people didn’t want to see the actor in more serious, thrilling roles. He subsequently reverted back to more lighthearted or musical parts, such as the critically derided Staying Alive and Look Who’s Talking.
Although the latter film was a huge success, the sequels it spawned, Look Who’s Talking Too and Look Who’s Talking Now, were critically panned and commercial failures. Moreover, roles in movies like Two of a Kind, Perfect, The Experts, and Shout were equally unsuccessful, with Travolta picking up four Golden Raspberry Award nominations during this period. It’s actually impressive how bad Travolta’s career was at this point. Everything he starred in was awful, and it’s actually a miracle that he kept getting cast.
Yet, in 1994, he was approached by Quentin Tarantino, a filmmaker who had not long released his debut feature, Reservoir Dogs, which was a massive hit. The passionate cinephile was a huge fan of Travolta’s performance in Blow Out over a decade prior and was interested in featuring him in his upcoming project, Pulp Fiction.
In fact, Tarantino once went as far as to call Travolta’s portrayal of Jack Terry in Blow Out “one of the best performances of all time”. Thus, when it came to picking out the ensemble cast for his stylish crime drama, Tarantino contacted Travolta after his first choice, Michael Madsen, wasn’t available.
Despite the fact that Travolta had never starred in anything similar apart from Blow Out, he accepted the role. Tarantino had achieved significant success with his debut and it was likely that Pulp Fiction was going to be even better. He was given the role of Vincent Vega, a hitman who partners with Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules Winnfield, with the two often engaging in humorous conversation while on the job.
His character sadly meets his demise after he steps out of the bathroom, facing the pointed gun of Butch Coolidge. However, before then, he does many memorable things, such as dancing with Uma Thurman’s Mia Wallace at a diner, one of the film’s most iconic scenes.
The movie was a huge success, subsequently revitalising Travolta’s career by proving him to be a multifaceted actor who was more than capable of playing strictly musical or comedic characters.
After Pulp Fiction, Travolta appeared in a more diverse range of movies, with performances in films like Get Shorty, Face/Off, The Thin Red Line and The General’s Daughter all praised, allowing Travolta to re-establish himself in Hollywood.
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