The iconic Quentin Tarantino movie Michael Madsen turned down and how it might have changed his life
Some actors shine with the grace of heaven itself, perfectly crafted in the name of excellence and utterly beguiling with their high-vision of goody-two-shoes energy. Some actors, however, are just good at being bad. If you don’t know Michael Madsen by name, you almost certainly know him from all of his roles as the consummate villain, especially in Quentin Tarantino movies.
In Reservoir Dogs, for example, he played the psychotic Mr Blonde, who combines the art of dance and torture in a particularly chilling scene. In Kill Bill: Volume 2, he played Bill’s brother, Budd, an assassin who casually buries The Bride alive before selling her sword. Both of these performances come with such a hefty dose of bravado and chilling charisma that it is difficult to imagine anyone but Madsen behind them.
Madsen also played likeable characters. In Thelma and Louise, he has a bit of a role as Susan Sarandon’s musician boyfriend, and he is one of the only men in the film who does not betray or attack women.
Over the years, Madsen has carved out a niche playing menacing villains or smooth-talking charmers who appear at the margins of movies and almost always steal the limelight. However, there was an opportunity at one point in his career to take a leading role, and it could have significantly altered the course of his career.
Fans of Reservoir Dogs might have noticed that Mr Blonde’s real name is Vic Vega, which is not coincidentally similar to John Travolta’s character, Vincent Vega, in Pulp Fiction. In the 2019 documentary QT8: The First Eight, which chronicles the first eight films in Tarantino’s filmography, Madsen confirmed that he had been the director’s first choice to play Vega in Pulp Fiction, but turned it down due to another commitment.
“I was already committed to Wyatt Earp,” he said. “And now, here’s Quentin, who wants me to do Pulp Fiction. And they were both going at the same time.” It is a decision that could have changed Madsen’s life forever.
He stuck with Lawrence Kasdan’s Wyatt Earp, an epic western that bombed at the box office and received poor reviews. Tarantino cast Travolta in the role instead, and, as Madsen put it, “It became John’s comeback. He was doing movies about talking babies, and suddenly, he’s Vincent Vega.”
Tarantino held onto his dream of having Madsen play Vega for years, even saying at one point that he was planning a Pulp Fiction prequel in which Madsen and Travolta played brothers. But ultimately, the project fell apart. “The only thing I did know was the premise,” Tarantino said in 2019. “I had a premise. It would’ve taken place in Amsterdam during the time Vincent Vega was in Amsterdam.” Unfortunately, the passage of time made the project impossible unless Tarantino changed his mind about de-ageing techniques.
Vincent Vega was not the only major role that Madsen has turned down over the years. According to a 2019 interview with The After Movie Diner, he declined the role of Bud White in the Oscar-winning thriller LA Confidential, which ultimately went to Russell Crowe. He may even have been in the running for the role of Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon, though he wasn’t convinced that he was seriously considered. “If I was skipped over, then too bad,” he said, concluding with a dig at the star who ultimately got the part, “It was the only good film Mel Gibson made.”
It is difficult not to see this sliding doors moment and wince at what could have been for Madsen. Surely one of the more gifted character actors of his generation, Madsen’s unique charisma should have sent his star to the moon, and perhaps Pulp Fiction could have been his rocket ship to get there. Sure, Reservoir Dogs is still considered a cult classic to this day, but the former movie was a mainstream hit and relaunched a whole litany of careers. Madsen’s could have been one of them, and how things might have changed if it had.
