60 Fun Facts About Pulp Fiction

Who wrote and directed Pulp Fiction?

Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed Pulp Fiction, sharing the story credit with Roger Avary; it was his second feature after Reservoir Dogs.

In what year was Pulp Fiction released?

Pulp Fiction was released in 1994, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival that May before its wide US opening on October 14, 1994.

Who plays hitman Vincent Vega?

John Travolta plays Vincent Vega; he took a heavily reduced fee for the part, which brought him a Best Actor Oscar nomination and revived his career.

Who plays Jules Winnfield?

Samuel L. Jackson plays Jules Winnfield; he won the part at a second audition, performing while eating a takeout burger, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Who plays Mia Wallace?

Uma Thurman plays Mia Wallace; Miramax had favoured Holly Hunter or Meg Ryan, but Tarantino wanted Thurman after their first meeting, and the role earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Which actor plays the boxer Butch Coolidge?

Bruce Willis plays Butch Coolidge, the ageing boxer who double-crosses Marsellus Wallace by winning the fight he was paid to throw.

Who plays crime boss Marsellus Wallace?

Ving Rhames plays crime boss Marsellus Wallace; Rhames went on to play Luther Stickell across the Mission: Impossible series.

Harvey Keitel plays a 'cleaner' with what name?

Harvey Keitel plays Winston Wolfe, a part Tarantino wrote for him; Wolfe introduces himself with 'I solve problems' and cleans up after the accidental shooting in the back of the car.

The diner robbers call each other Pumpkin and Honey Bunny. What are their real names?

Tim Roth used his natural London accent for Ringo after faking an American one in Reservoir Dogs.

Who plays Captain Koons, the veteran who delivers young Butch's heirloom?

Christopher Walken plays Captain Koons, the veteran who delivers the heirloom to young Butch; his monologue mentions Winocki, a character from Howard Hawks's 1943 film Air Force.

Which small role does Tarantino himself play?

Tarantino plays Jimmie, whose house is used for the clean-up; he chose Jimmie over Lance so he could stay behind the camera for Mia's overdose scene.

Who plays Vincent's drug dealer Lance?

Eric Stoltz plays Lance, the bathrobe-wearing dealer who helps revive Mia with an adrenaline shot to the heart; Stoltz had earlier starred in Mask (1985).

Steve Buscemi's cameo at the 1950s restaurant is as a waiter dressed as whom?

Steve Buscemi's waiter is dressed as Buddy Holly, horn-rimmed glasses and all, serving Mia and Vincent among staff impersonating Marilyn Monroe and an Ed Sullivan host.

Which comedian appears in the film as herself, at the scene of Butch's car crash?

Kathy Griffin appears as herself, a bystander at the crash; Julia Sweeney is also in the film, playing Raquel, daughter of junkyard owner Monster Joe.

Which actor turned down the role of Jules Winnfield?

Laurence Fishburne turned down Jules; he said years later that he passed because he felt the film glamorised heroin use.

Which Reservoir Dogs actor's decision to make Wyatt Earp instead freed up the Vincent role for Travolta?

Madsen's Reservoir Dogs character Vic Vega is Vincent's brother; a 'Vega Brothers' film was mooted but never made.

Which Oscar-winner did Harvey Weinstein push for as Vincent?

Harvey Weinstein pushed hard for Daniel Day-Lewis to play Vincent Vega, but Tarantino refused to recast the part and got his way.

What hairstyle did the script call for Jules, before a Jheri-curl wig arrived by mistake?

A giant afro was what the script called for; the wig bought for Jackson turned out to be a Jheri curl, he liked the mistake, and Tarantino kept it.

What Bible passage does Jules recite before executing someone?

Jules recites 'Ezekiel 25:17', though only its closing lines resemble the real verse; most of the speech was borrowed from a 1970s martial-arts film's opening crawl.

Jules's 'biblical' speech is taken almost word for word from a film starring which martial-arts actor?

Sonny Chiba starred in Karate Kiba (1976, released in the US as The Bodyguard), whose opening crawl carries the creed Jules adapts.

Which fast-food comparison do Vincent and Jules famously discuss in the car?

What a Quarter Pounder is called in Paris — a 'Royale with Cheese', thanks to the metric system — is the exchange; Travolta reprised the gag in From Paris with Love (2010).

Which made-up fast-food brand from the film has recurred in later Tarantino movies?

Big Kahuna Burger, the Hawaiian chain Jules samples at Brett's apartment, reappears in From Dusk Till Dawn and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

What is the name of the 1950s-themed restaurant where Vincent takes Mia?

Jack Rabbit Slim's is the 1950s-themed restaurant where Mia orders the five-dollar milkshake that astonishes Vincent; its booths are cut from vintage car bodies.

What competition do Vincent and Mia enter at the restaurant?

A twist contest is what the Ed Sullivan lookalike MC announces; Vincent and Mia dance to Chuck Berry's 'You Never Can Tell' and carry home the trophy.

Which Godard film does Tarantino cite as the inspiration for the dance scene?

Bande à part (1964) is the film Tarantino cites; its Madison dance, with Anna Karina and her two would-be crook companions, is the model, and his company A Band Apart takes its name from it.

Mia overdoses after mistaking Vincent's heroin for what?

Cocaine is what Mia assumes the white powder in Vincent's coat pocket is; she snorts the heroin and overdoses, sending Vincent racing to his dealer's house.

The adrenaline-shot scene was inspired by an anecdote in a documentary about which Taxi Driver actor?

Steven Prince, Taxi Driver's gun dealer Easy Andy, tells the story in Scorsese's American Boy (1978): he revived an overdosed woman using a medical book and a marker to find the spot.

Butch's father died as a prisoner of war in which conflict?

The Vietnam War claimed Butch's father, who died of dysentery in a Hanoi POW camp after hiding the heirloom for five years; Koons hid it two more to bring it home.

Why does Butch go back to his apartment, where he finds Vincent?

Fabienne forgot to pack the gold watch, which Butch values above everything; after retrieving it he spots Marsellus crossing the street, a moment modelled on Marion Crane's drive in Psycho.

What weapon does Butch choose to rescue Marsellus in the pawnshop basement?

A katana is Butch's final choice from the pawnshop's wares; he picks up and rejects a hammer, a baseball bat and a chainsaw before settling on the samurai sword.

Whose motorcycle does Butch ride away on with Fabienne?

Zed's chopper is the bike; when Fabienne asks whose it is, Butch answers with the film's famous line, 'Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.'

What is the name of the taxi driver who helps Butch escape after the fight?

Esmarelda Villa Lobos is the Colombian cabbie played by Angela Jones, who asks Butch what it feels like to kill a man; Tarantino cast her after seeing the short film Curdled.

Whom does Vincent accidentally shoot in the head in the back of the car?

Marvin, the inside man at Brett's apartment, is shot in the face when Vincent's gun goes off as the car hits a bump, and the mess has to be cleaned up fast.

What is the name of Jimmie's wife, due home from her night shift?

Bonnie is Jimmie's wife, a nurse on the night shift; the segment takes its title, 'The Bonnie Situation', from the panic over her coming home to a corpse.

What lights up the inside of the mysterious briefcase?

A hidden orange bulb, run off batteries, made the glow; the device recalls the glowing case holding an atomic device in the 1955 noir Kiss Me Deadly.

What pulp-style novel is Vincent reading in the bathroom scenes?

Modesty Blaise, Peter O'Donnell's 1965 novel about a former crime boss turned adventurer, is the paperback Vincent reads on the toilet, including when Butch finds him.

Which studio put the script into turnaround, with its chief calling it 'too demented'?

TriStar put the script into turnaround after studio chief Mike Medavoy found it 'too demented'; Miramax, newly bought by Disney, picked it up.

What was the film's final production budget?

The budget was $8 million; the film grossed about $214 million worldwide, a return of more than twenty-five times its cost.

Which prize did the film win at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival?

Pulp Fiction won The Palme d'Or at Cannes over favourites including Three Colours: Red; jury president Clint Eastwood handed Tarantino the prize.

Which Academy Award did Pulp Fiction win?

Best Original Screenplay was the film's only Oscar win, shared by its writer-director and Roger Avary, on a night dominated by Forrest Gump.

How many Oscar nominations did Pulp Fiction receive?

Seven nominations in all, including Best Picture, Best Director and three acting nods, but the film went home with a single statuette.

Roughly how much did Pulp Fiction gross at the US box office?

$108 million is the US and Canada gross, making Pulp Fiction the first Miramax release to pass $100 million domestically.

Which song plays over the opening credits?

Dick Dale's 'Misirlou', a 1962 surf-guitar take on an Eastern Mediterranean folk tune, opens the credits; there is no composed score, only the records Tarantino picked.

Which power-pop song was originally intended for the pawnshop rape scene?

'My Sharona' by The Knack was the original choice for the scene; it was dropped, and The Revels' surf instrumental 'Comanche' plays instead.

Which band's cover of a Neil Diamond song was the soundtrack's single?

Urge Overkill's cover of Neil Diamond's 'Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon', which Mia dances to just before her overdose, was released as the soundtrack's single.

In which city did Tarantino start writing the script in March 1992?

That is one reason Vincent has just come back from Amsterdam and knows so much about European fast food.

Where did the diner scenes get filmed?

The Hawthorne Grill in Hawthorne, a real Googie-style coffee shop south of Los Angeles, hosted the diner scenes; the 1950s theme restaurant, by contrast, was a set built in a warehouse.

The 2005 film Be Cool reunited Vincent and Mia's two actors for a homage to which scene?

The dance is what Be Cool revisits, with Vincent and Mia's actors taking the floor again; the film's other much-copied image, the two hitmen aiming side by side, was redrawn by Banksy with bananas.

Which 2014 Marvel film puts Jules's Bible verse on a character's gravestone as a nod to the film?

Captain America: The Winter Soldier ends with Nick Fury, played by Jules's own actor, standing at his faked headstone, which is engraved with the verse's line about 'the path of the righteous man'.

Roger Avary's original contribution, 'Pandemonium Reigns', became the basis of which storyline?

The one about Butch and his heirloom grew from Avary's script; he then accepted a 'story by' credit so the film could carry a sole 'written and directed by' line.

Which magazine named Pulp Fiction the best film of the previous 25 years in 2008?

Entertainment Weekly put Pulp Fiction at number one on its 2008 list of the best films of the previous 25 years; the same year Empire's 500-film poll ranked it ninth of all time.

What kind of gun does Butch kill Vincent with in the apartment?

Vincent had left it on the kitchen counter while he used the bathroom.

Who plays the diner robber nicknamed Pumpkin, opposite Amanda Plummer's Honey Bunny?

Tim Roth plays Pumpkin in his own London accent, having faked an American one as Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs; Roth also introduced Amanda Plummer to Tarantino.

Which actor was Tarantino's first choice for the boxer Butch Coolidge?

Matt Dillon was Tarantino's first choice for Butch; when he asked for a night to consider the offer, Tarantino withdrew it and the part went elsewhere.

Who plays Butch's girlfriend Fabienne?

Maria de Medeiros plays Fabienne, who is waiting at the motel when Butch returns from the fight; Tarantino met the Portuguese actress on the festival circuit with Reservoir Dogs.

Who plays Jody, the heavily pierced wife of drug dealer Lance?

Rosanna Arquette plays Jody, the pierced wife of the dealer; her sibling Alexis Arquette plays the 'Fourth Man' who bursts from the bathroom and misses Vincent and Jules with every shot.

Which blaxploitation star auditioned for Jody, the dealer's wife, but was passed over?

Pam Grier read for Jody, but Tarantino felt audiences would never believe Lance could yell at her; he cast her three years later as the lead in Jackie Brown.

Which Sylvester Stallone film did Pulp Fiction edge out to top the US box office on its opening weekend?

The Specialist, Stallone's thriller with Sharon Stone, was knocked off the top spot when Pulp Fiction opened wide in mid-October with about $9.3 million.

Miramax sued Tarantino in November 2021 over his plan to sell what based on the film?

Seven NFTs of unseen scenes, built from pages of his handwritten script with audio commentary, were the plan; Miramax sued in November 2021 and the two sides settled in 2022.

Why did Tarantino shoot the film on 50 ASA, the slowest stock available?

It gives a nearly grain-free, lustrous image, which Tarantino called the closest thing to 1950s Technicolor; he wanted his modestly budgeted film to look like a far costlier epic.