Steve Buscemi remembers Quentin Tarantino being “so excited” for ‘Reservoir Dogs’
Steve Buscemi is usually commended for his work with the Coen brothers. However, two of his other most famous moments come thanks to one of Hollywood’s other esteemed auteurs, Quentin Tarantino. Whilst his minor role as the Buddy Holly waiter in Pulp Fiction is the stuff of pop culture legend, his role as Mr. Pink in the director’s breakout film, Reservoir Dogs, is arguably his greatest performance.
Buscemi was already an established actor when Reservoir Dogs was released in 1992. His knack for blending dramatic subtlety and comedic brilliance is evident for all to see in titles such as Miller’s Crossing and Barton Fink. Often playing hapless but conniving characters, Buscemi was perfect for the role of Mr. Pink, one of the most slippery creations Tarantino or anyone has ever put to the silver screen.
Centring around a botched diamond heist, Reservoir Dogs is famed for the way that the characters learn of the plot developments at the same time as the audience, with each revelation in this complicated puzzle increasingly shocking, as the bloody consequences of the unknown snitch’s subterfuge and Machiavellian tactics ramp up.
Alongside Buscemi, the film features career-defining performances from Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn and Lawrence Tierney. Together, the onscreen chemistry is so convincing that you’d be forgiven for thinking they are an actual group of criminals and not Hollywood actors.
Tarantino announced his genius to the world with Reservoir Dogs as he not only directed it but wrote and starred in it too. It was a real passion project and something he had to get right if he had any hope of hitting the heights of his heroes such as Akira Kurosawa. A masterclass in filmmaking, it was an instant success and became one of the ultimate examples of independent cinema.
During a 2015 AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit, Buscemi was asked to share his favourite memory from the making of Reservoir Dogs. In doing so, he revealed just how infectious Quentin Tarantino was on the set and how “excited” he was to make his first film.
“He was SO excited to be making a film,” Buscemi recalled. “And… to be directing his first film. In rehearsals, the rehearsals were just as exciting as the filmmaking! He would set up – this whole improvisation of us robbing the jewellery store, so that we would improvise and act out what went wrong. He just had, you know, has a lot of joy, in him! And it was – it made all of us also feel like we were working on our first film”.
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