Pulp Fiction

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Pulp Fiction Trivia

Mia Wallace's comment "An Elvis man should love this" is a reference to an earlier cut scene where Mia claims that everyone can be classified as either an "Elvis" (Elvis Presley) person or a "Beatles" (The Beatles) person. She bets Vincent that he is an "Elvis", and he confirms it.
The Ezekiel bible quote was taken from any early draft of From Dusk Till Dawn. Harvey Keitel's character was supposed to say it; while walking backwards down the hallway facing the vampires.
DIRTRADE(Quentin Tarantino): [Red Apple cigarettes]: Butch smokes "Red Apple" cigarettes. The same brand is smoked by Tim Roth's character in Four Rooms.
Jules's character was originally written to have a gigantic afro, but a crewmember obtained a variety of afro wigs and one jheri curl wig. Quentin Tarantino had never thought about a jheri curl wig, but Samuel L. Jackson tried it on, Tarantino liked it, and it was kept.
The role of Vincent Vega was written for Michael Madsen, who played the character's brother, Vic Vega, in Reservoir Dogs, but he couldn't do the film due to scheduling conflicts for another film.
The role of Butch was originally supposed to be an up and coming boxer. Matt Dillon was in talks to play the role, but never committed. Tarantino then changed the role and offered it to Bruce Willis, who had been disappointed at not being signed to play Vincent.
The parts of "Honey Bunny" and "Pumpkin" were written specifically for Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth.
Many people believe that the band-aid on Ving Rhames' neck was an intentional choice by the filmmakers. In reality, it came from an accident Rhames had while shaving his head. When Quentin Tarantino noticed this, it inspired him to open the "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace" sequence with a close-up of the band-aid instead. Ultimately Tarantino liked showing the band-aid rather than Rhames' face because it accentuated the character's mercurial nature and was more visually exciting than a series of single shots of Rhames and Bruce Willis.
Quentin Tarantino is an avid collector of vintage TV show board games. During the filming of Pulp Fiction, he and John Travolta were reported to have sat on the floor and played the Welcome Back, Kotter board game.
DIRTRADE(Quentin Tarantino): [feet]: The cab driver, Esmarelda, does not have shoes on.
It reads in the script that "The Bonnie Situation" was originally supposed to be titled "Jules, Vincent, Jimmie and The Wolf".
Samuel L. Jackson auditioned for the part of Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs, but it went to Tim Roth. Tarantino enjoyed Jackson's work so much that he wrote the part of Jules specifically for him.
The passage from the Bible that Jules has memorized was mostly made up by Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson. The only part that's similar to what the Bible says is the part where he says, "And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon thee." However, the parts about the righteous man and the shepherd are not real.
Chronologically, the first scene in the movie has Vincent and Jules chatting in their car while on their way to do a job. The last chronological scene has Butch and Fabienne riding away from the hotel on Butch's newly acquired motorcycle (and the "last line" of the movie is therefore "Zed's dead, baby; Zed's dead." (If you count the flashback, the first scene would then be when Captain Koons (Christopher Walken) visits the young Butch and gives him the watch.) Scene titles: Vince and Jules, The Bonnie Situation, The Diner I, The Diner II, Jack Rabbit Slims and The Gold Watch.
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #94 Greatest Movie of All Time.
When Vincent calls Lance on his cell phone, Lance is eating a bowl of Fruit Brute, a cereal from the older monster cereal family. Fruit Brute (which, along with Yummy Mummy, Frankenberry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula, make up the monster cereals) was later discontinued, along with "Yummy Mummy." Quentin Tarantino has held onto a box and drops it into scenes from time to time. It appeared in Reservoir Dogs, too.
When Vincent first walks into Mia's house, one of the back doors is slightly open. This was done so the camera wouldn't be seen in the reflection.
Quentin Tarantino had originally intended "My Sharona" (by The Knack) to be played during the Gimp torture sequence - but the rights had already been licensed to another film, Reality Bites. On top of this, one of the members of the band had become a born again Christian, and didn't want the song to be associated with a scene of sexual violence.
Tarantino was quoted as saying that Butch is responsible for keying Vincent's car.
Daniel Day-Lewis (who incidentally shares a birthday with Uma Thurman) wanted the role of Vincent Vega, but Quentin Tarantino turned him down in favor of John Travolta.
The marquee where Butch boxes advertises the following fights: "Coolidge vs Wilson" and "Vossler vs Martinez". The first is a reference to United States Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Woodrow Wilson, the second is a reference to Russell Vossler and Jerry Martinez, who are two friends of Tarantino's from when he worked in a video store. See also Crimson Tide.
Jules' "Bad Mother Fucker" wallet actually belongs to Quentin Tarantino. The inscription on the wallet is a reference to the theme song of Shaft.
Most likely unintentionally, Mia's character of Raven McCoy on her pilot for Fox Force Five is related to three characters of the X-Men series. The name Raven can be derived from Raven Darkholme, the real name of "Mystique" while the surname McCoy is the last name of the character "Beast" whose real name is Hank McCoy. Also, Mia describes her character as having been raised by circus performers, the same upbringing as Kurt Wagner aka "Nightcrawler". Ironically all three characters are blue.
CAMEO(Lawrence Bender): film's producer is one of the long-haired yuppies at the coffee shop.
During an interview Quentin Tarantino admitted that Jules' Samuel L. Jackson bible quote of Ezekiel 25:17 was something he remembered from the Sonny Chiba movie Karate Kiba (1976) aka The Bodyguard. He said he never read it in the bible, and it is taken almost word for word from that film. Tarantino has always been a Chiba fan and has included references to him in _True Romance (1993)_ and a cameo by Chiba in Kill Bill Vol. 1.
The role of Fabienne was written with Swiss actress Irène Jacob in mind. Jacob turned down the role to star in Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994) (English language title "Three Colors: Red").
DIRTRADE(Quentin Tarantino): [trunk shot]:
Ranked #7 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Gangster" in June 2008.
Sylvester Stallone was briefly considered for the role of Butch.
Knoxville, Tennessee, where Butch was meeting his connection and where his great-grandfather bought the gold watch, is also Quentin Tarantino's birthplace.
Quentin Tarantino originally wanted Christopher Jones for the role of Zed.
Courtney Love claimed that Tarantino originally wanted Kurt Cobain and her to play Lance and Jody. However, Tarantino denies ever having even met Kurt, much less offered him a part.
In the diner when Mia orders her $5 shake, "Buddy Holly" (the waiter) asks her if she wants it "Martin and Lewis or Amos and Andy?" He is referring to two comedy duos - Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, two white men; Amos and Andy, two black men. Basically, he is asking her if she wants a vanilla shake or a chocolate shake. She has vanilla.
Mia Wallace's television pilot involved a team of 5 female secret agents (including a blond woman, an African-American woman, and a Japanese woman). Uma Thurman's next picture with Tarantino would be Kill Bill, where she was part of a team of 5 assassins (4 of which were female and, besides her, consisted of a blond woman, and African-American woman, and a half-Japanese-half-Chinese-American woman). The French Sophie character may have also been a part of the team of assassins, making it 5. Mia's pilot character's specialty was knives. The Bride's first kill in Kill Bill Vol. 1 was with a knife.
Quentin Tarantino hesitated over the choice between the character he was going to play: Jimmie or Lance. He ended up choosing Jimmie's role because he wanted to be behind the camera in Mia's overdose scene.
DIRTRADE(Quentin Tarantino): [red apple cigarettes]: Pumpkin also has a pack of Red Apples laying in front of him in the opening scene. The red apple and the green worm can be made out when looking closely.
DIRTRADE(Quentin Tarantino): [bare feet]: Uma Thurman is barefoot for most of the movie.
The screenplay says that Zed and Maynard are brothers.
Speculation abounds as to the nature of the mysterious glowing contents of the case: - Could it be Elvis's gold suit, seen worn by Val Kilmer (as Elvis) in True Romance? - The most persistent theory (most usually attributed to a friend of a friend who saw it posted on a message board by someone whose brother had read a report of a radio interview with Tarantino himself) is that it is Marcellus Wallace's soul. The story goes that when the Devil takes a person's soul, it is removed through the back of the head (this isn't part of any known religion, but this is what the message board posters say). When we see the back of Marcellus's head he has a Band-Aid covering the precise spot indicated by tradition for soul removal. Perhaps Marcellus sold his soul to the devil which would also explain why the combination to open the briefcase is 666. - Quentin Tarantino has said that the band-aid on the back of Marsellus Wallace's neck had nothing to do with an allusion to the Devil stealing Marsellus's soul... but that the actor Ving Rhames had a scar on the back of his neck he wanted to cover up. - Or could it be simply a 20-watt light bulb? - According to Roger Avary, who co-wrote the script with Quentin Tarantino, the original plan was to have the briefcase contain diamonds. This seemed neither exciting nor original, so Avary and Tarantino decided to have the briefcase's contents never appear on screen; this way each filmgoer could mentally "fill in the blank" with whatever struck his or her imagination as best fitting the description "so beautiful". The orange light bulb (projecting shimmering light onto the actors' faces) was a last-minute decision and added a completely unintended fantastic element. - In a radio interview with 'Howard Stern' in late 2003, Quentin Tarantino was asked by a caller the contents of the briefcase, and he answered, "It's whatever the viewer wants it to be."
Whenever Vincent Vega (John Travolta) goes to the toilet something bad happens.
Isabella Rossellini, Meg Ryan, Daryl Hannah, Joan Cusack and Michelle Pfeiffer were all interviewed for the role of Mia Wallace. Out of all of them, Tarantino said he preferred Pfeiffer.
In the screenplay, Butch is a featherweight boxer but in the film, Butch's opponent Wilson has his weight announced as "210 pounds" - implying that Butch is a heavyweight.
Voted #9 on Empire magazine's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (September 2008).
Quentin Tarantino continues his tradition of incorporating aspects of the Netherlands into his films. He wrote the script in Amsterdam, in a hotel room and in coffee shop ("Dutch" for hash-bar) Betty Boop. He stayed for several months, and left the video rental store "Cult Video" with an unpaid bill of about $150. This stay explains the references to Dutch culture and customs at the beginning of the movie. Vincent tells his heroin dealer that "I just got back from Amsterdam and discusses it with Jules in their opening scene. In the conversation in the Jack Rabbit Slims restaurant, Mia mentions that she goes to Amsterdam to "chill out" for a month or two every now and again. In the same restaurant, Vincent smokes Drum, which is a Dutch rolling tobacco. Also, the book version of the movie's screenplay includes some cut dialogue between Vincent and Mia - he realizes that she was "the girl in the cowboy hat" in a photo at a hash bar they both visited, the Cobra, which is right across from the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. Also in the scene at the motel with Butch, he calls Fabiene "tulip", then she says she likes to be called "tulip", as this flower has come to be a trademark symbol of the Netherlands.
Jules' car, a 1974 Chevy Nova, is never seen in full frame; only the interior or parts of the exterior are visible.
DIRTRADE(Quentin Tarantino): [long take]: When Butch gets out of the Honda to retrieve his watch, we follow him around a building, through a hole in a fence until he is across the street from the apartment.
DIRTRADE(Quentin Tarantino): [singing over music]: Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) sings and dances over the song she puts on when she comes home from Jack Rabbit Slim's with Vincent Vega (John Travolta). Butch (Bruce Willis) also sings over music, but doesn't dance since he's driving.
DIRTRADE(Quentin Tarantino): [corpse view]: After Marsellus is hit by Butch's car we see the camera from Marsellus' "corpse" of the pedestrians looking down at him.
In a cut scene Vincent tells Mia he's been fantasizing about being beaten up by Emma Peel of the Avengers. Later, in 1998, Uma Thurman did star as Emma Peel in the movie The Avengers.
During the Bonnie Situation, Vincent says that if Jimmie had Lava in the bathroom, he (Vincent) could have gotten his hands cleaner. John Travolta started in show business singing in ads for Lava soap.