Why Uma Thurman almost turned down ‘Pulp Fiction’: “No one could believe I hesitated”
Even though she was hardly a newcomer when she was cast as Mia Wallace, it wasn’t until Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction that Uma Thurman was treated like a movie star.
That was partly by design, though, with the actor initially shying away from the pitfalls of celebrity. After first gaining prominence while still a teenager, Thurman actively withdrew herself from the spotlight after appearing in Dangerous Liaisons to avoid becoming typecast or pigeonholed as an ingenue.
Still, she’d only turned 23 five months before Tarantino started shooting Pulp Fiction in September 1993, so she wasn’t exactly a veteran either. Thanks to the word-of-mouth success and critical acclaim that had greeted Reservoir Dogs, countless big names were circling his hotly anticipated follow-up feature.
Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Holly Hunter, and Rosanna Arquette were all more experienced and well-known than Thurman when the casting process began, but she was the one Tarantino wanted to hire from their first meeting. It should have been a done deal at that point, but Thurman wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to commit.
By her own admission, she was in “a funny little slump” following a Razzie-nominated performance in the box office bomb Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, leaving her unsure of her immediate future. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in the movie,” Thurman admitted to Vanity Fair of her initial hesitance.
Tarantino dedicated an entire day attempting to convince her otherwise, spending three hours together discussing Pulp Fiction over dinner before the conversation continued at her home. And yet, because he was still only one film into his directorial career and the script featured plenty of touchy subject matter, Thurman needed to be won over.
“He wasn’t this revered demigod auteur that he has grown into,” she said. “And I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it because I was worried about the gimp stuff. No one could believe I even hesitated in any way. Neither can I, in hindsight.” There’s a reason why it’s always 20/20, and Thurman would have regretted it had she declined Tarantino’s overtures.
After all, Pulp Fiction elevated her career to the next level and earned Thurman her first – and still only – Academy Award nomination after being shortlisted for ‘Best Supporting Actress’. It would have also changed the trajectory of not only her filmography but Tarantino’s, too after the pair concocted the idea that would eventually evolve into the two-part revenge saga Kill Bill during filming.
Pulp Fiction is one of those movies that feels perfectly cast from top to bottom, and it’s impossible to imagine anyone other than Thurman as Mia. If it weren’t for the writer and director’s persistence, then maybe she would have let her reluctance get the better of her and have the part end up with someone else.
Never Miss A Take
The Far Out Quentin Tarantino Newsletter
All the latest Quentin Tarantino content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.