Original subtitles

Quentin Tarantino's first movie had opened

the world's eyes and ears to a whole new style

of moviemaking.

But there was as much mayhem going on behind the scenes

as on the screen.

You're fucking fired!

Pointed right in his face.

"Reservoir Dogs" introduced the world

to Mr. Tarantino.

Who is this kid?

But where would he be now...

What else do you have? What else do you have?

- If it hadn't been for-- - Everybody be cool,

this is a robbery!

This is the story of the difficult second album

that completely eclipsed the breakthrough.

Best picture of the year. "Pulp Fiction."

Tarantino and Roger Avary for "Pulp Fiction."

It was "Star Wars" for independent cinema.

I don't know if any of us were really prepared

for how huge it was.

But nobody on this unlikely classic

- was prepared for-- - What was that?

A seemingly unworkable script.

And that's what's in the movie?

A cast that didn't seem to make any sense?

My casting instincts are going crazy.

Oh, you're pushing it.

Quentin was fighting the studio.

- I'm sorry. - A director

with his own language and customs.

What's going on here?

He broke all the rules.

He's not from film school.

It's different than what I thought.

Why is that happening?

Just do it for me, please?

So I'm like, "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Blatant and graphic drug use.

God damn.

Hyper-realistic violence.

Whoa!

Over-the-top ODs.

It was like the ultimate pierce.

Sexual perversion, rape, and even a gimp.

It was so out there.

I'm not sure that movie is going to show.

And the audience running for the exits.

My mom said, "We need to go."

While his "Reservoir Dogs" debut

gathered notoriety and popularity,

Quentin Tarantino was determined to prove

he could do it again, but better.

You got an idea, spit it out.

After "Reservoir Dogs," there's that possibility

of, you know, the sophomore curse, which happens a lot

with filmmakers trying to overcome their success

of their first film that got all the hype.

I remember him seething.

That's all I'm thinking about now.

I mean, this guy wants to make movies

for the sake of he loves movies.

He was willing to do whatever it took.

He wouldn't go as far as taking up an offer

to direct "Speed."

- Are you sure? - Yes.

Or "Men in Black."

I make this look good.

Even though men in black were his thing.

Is that supposed to be funny?

But Quentin turned those projects down

because he wanted to tell his own stories.

And the door of opportunity was opened

during a chance meeting with producer Stacey Sher

who introduced Quentin to her business partner,

Danny DeVito.

- Let me look at you! - And DeVito

was only too happy to climb aboard the Tarantino taxi.

Danny DeVito's company Jersey Films made

a $900,000 development deal with him.

- I got the money. - Giving him final cut

and basically make what he wanted.

Since Quentin wanted his next film

to really push the envelope, that suited him fine.

That kind of deal is very, very rare for someone

who's literally only ever made one movie.

Yeah, and that was a fucking miracle.

This unicorn development deal even came

with a potential studio.

TriStar had first refusal

to pick up the movie.

All Tarantino needed now was a script.

No problem.

Four years earlier in Tarantino's formative years

at Video Archives, he'd been writing up a storm.

He said, "Well, I've got scripts, you know, in my head.

I'm gonna write them."

But he wasn't alone.

Two Video Archive colleagues, Adam Rifkin and Roger Avary.

They would spend time during work

talking about movies together, rehashing movies together,

giving each other suggestions

for movies they should check out.

And then it wasn't very long before they just realized,

"We should just be partners in writing."

And Tarantino knew exactly where to start.

His decision was, he thought, you know,

we'll have three guys write three different stories

and they'll direct their own stories.

And Tarantino really liked the idea of playing

with an anthology type of story since he's a big fan

of the pulp comics.

At one point, Tarantino had a short film

and Avary had a short film,

but that kind of never really materialized.

Four years later, could those ideas be revived?

I came across that idea again and go,

"Well, god, that was kind of a good idea."

Then I actually found pages from the material

and was like, "This is a really good idea, man."

Like, "This is what I should do for my second film."

The writer Tarantino had his idea,

he had his development money,

and he was away to the other side of the world.

I've been in America all my life.

I always want to see what TV in other countries looks like.

And that country was Holland.

And then he kind of vanished for the best part of a year.

So I think there were a bit of nerves about that.

Like, "Oh no, what have we done?"

Quentin hadn't vanished.

He was spending the great year writing up a storm

in an Amsterdam hotel.

He wanted to do what Elmore Leonard does,

taking cliche crime stories,

but rooted in a kind of reality or hyper-reality.

Soon, Roger Avary would join Quentin

to adapt his famous contribution.

Which was called "Pandemonium Reigns."

And that ended up being the watch section

with Butch, the boxer.

- This watch-- - And sort of folded

that in with his own other ideas.

Tarantino would finally emerge from the canals

with the three distinct stories woven together

in a non-linear narrative.

We were laughing so hard and Quentin

was getting great joy out of watching us

reading the script and laughing.

Some found the script funny, as in farcical.

Nobody was gonna see it.

It was so out there, I thought,

"Oh my god, who's ever gonna watch this?"

Well, people into heroin abuse,

a leather-clad gimp and a rape scene, all zero of them.

We read the script and we had no clue,

like how it was gonna come together. You know?

If Hollywood and TriStar Pictures

had their way, it wouldn't.

They weren't too keen on the drug usage.

There was one scene in particular which was showing

the character Vincent Vega shooting up heroin.

And it's described in some detail.

The studio didn't really want to include this.

They thought it was glamorizing drugs.

And of course, that confusing script.

There were kind of emergency meetings held

and Tarantino went in and tried to reassure them.

But they couldn't be reassured,

so they didn't end up backing the film.

It seemed "Pulp Fiction"

was too lurid for Hollywood.

We got a major situation here.

Tarantino went back to Miramax.

Where he knew

he might get a more sympathetic ear.

Because they'd not cut his films.

As in allowing this particular cut

in Quentin's first film.

Hey, what's going on?

Quentin is a loyal cat

and Harvey Weinstein believed in him

from the very beginning.

Miramax could be perfect partners.

- However... - Miramax had been bought

by Buena Vista, which was part of Disney.

So how could family-friendly Disney,

famous for movies like this...

♪ Circle of life ♪

...deal with unsavory things like this.

Even though it is an independent movie,

if you follow the chain up, it's a Disney movie as well.

But Miramax boss Weinstein wasn't concerned

- because-- - He knew

that Quentin Tarantino was gifted

because of "Reservoir Dogs"

and wanted to work with him and his scripts.

Harvey also had a plan.

Knowing "Reservoir Dogs" was a European hit,

he quickly presold foreign distribution rights

for "Pulp Fiction" for $11 million.

Making 4 million profit even before casting.

As one of the Weinstein brothers put it,

"We're now in the Quentin Tarantino business."

But how to credit who for the writing?

Roger Avary thought he and Quentin

should be listed as co-writers.

Avary did say that he worked on the whole film,

so they kind of did collaborate

on how to weave the stories together and everything.

It was a firm Taranti-"no."

Quentin threatened to drop Roger's boxer storyline altogether.

So Tarantino paid Avary for his script.

The princely sum of $25,000.

And Tarantino's credit would say...

...just like his first film.

Quentin, he makes it his project and his voice gets on the page.

And that voice would find a sympathetic ear

and a "Reservoir" returnee, producer Lawrence Bender.

Lawrence really left the creativity to Quentin.

And despite critical differences

on their debut, Tarantino's DP was also back.

You stick to director.

You're like playing in casino

when you have lucky time, you know,

you should just toss your bet on everything.

And new casting director, Gary Zuckerbrod,

could now work with Quentin to find their ensemble cast.

When you have a director that has a vision, it's magic.

And Tarantino had a whole pack of dogs

to whistle up, including Harvey Keitel.

- He begged me to do it. - Tarantino felt a great deal

of respect, but also that, you know,

he may owe Harvey Keitel.

Because Harvey Keitel obviously is the main reason

he got his first movie put out.

I'm here to help

If my help's not appreciated, lots of luck, gentlemen.

For the lead role of Vincent,

Tarantino only had eyes for one man.

Yet another dog. Mr. Blonde.

Well, he wrote it thinking of me.

I wouldn't say he wrote it for me,

but I was at the top of his list.

Except Blonde had gone west.

Larry Kasdan was gonna make "Wyatt Earp."

And walking down the street to the O.K. Corral

is like a boy's dream. You know?

I thought, "Yeah, man, goddammit...

...I'm gonna walk down the street to the O.K. Corral."

And even Dennis Quaid said to me,

"This is why we're doing the film," and I go, "I know."

I want your guns.

But Quentin wanted Michael's guns.

"I wanted you to do 'Pulp Fiction.'"

Man, could you believe Mr. Blonde?

And I said, "Man, it's just another gangster movie.

It's the same as 'Reservoir Dogs.'"

And he goes, "Okay, okay, okay, I get it."

While Madsen went off to be a gunslinger,

strangely, Quentin's next choice was more of a singer.

♪ I wonder why? ♪

He was a fan of John Travolta's, you know, growing up.

Quentin loved him as Billy Nolan in "Carrie."

Get her done, man, get her done.

And Jack Terry

in Tarantino's all-time favorite "Blow Out."

And Tarantino knew just how to get Travolta on board.

I collect board games

that have to do with TV shows and movies.

I said, "John, I have the 'Welcome Back, Kotter' board game.

Would you like to come down to my house

and we'll play the game?"

And he said yes and he won.

So as the night gets going,

Tarantino hands him "Pulp Fiction."

Travolta's thinking in his mind,

"This guy wants me to play this role?"

And Travolta realized, "Wow, you know, this is great.

I need this."

And why would he need this?

His career was, for some reason,

it just looked bleak. You know?

I got an emergency!

He was still doing movies, you know.

But he wasn't starring in the big, amazing drama stuff

like he had been back in the earlier days.

I mean, you know how it is, rocking and rolling.

At that point, he started doing the baby-talk movies

and other things that I thought, you know, weren't great.

You know that's breast milk?

While Tarantino s tempting Travolta,

another actor started showing interest.

I said, "Quentin, Daniel Day-Lewis

had gotten a copy of the script.

You should probably meet with him."

He said, "Hmm...

...I don't think so."

No, to Lewis.

Yes, to Travolta.

What in the name of the father is going on?

John Travolta. "Welcome Back, Kotter."

This thing is a stupid idea.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Oscar winner from "My Left Foot."

I am not alright.

My casting instincts are going crazy and I may explode.

Tarantino ct yesterday's man, John Travolta,

instead of Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis...

What a gyp.

...for Pulp Fiction's lead role of Vincent.

Quentin wanted somebody rougher around the edges.

But was the Travolta idea

about to go down the toilet?

Without Tarantino knowing, Harvey Keitel

had passed along the script of "Pulp Fiction"

to Bruce Willis.

Bruce loved it and he really wanted to play Vincent Vega.

John Travolta's part.

Willis was at least as desirable

as Daniel Day-Lewis.

Been doing this for 11 years.

That's not how Quentin saw it.

Oh well, well.

It's freaky, but it happens.

So then Bruce was like, "Okay,

what about the character of Jules?

You know, I know he's supposed to be a black character,

but what if he's a white hippie-type of guy?"

What Bruce was talking about was something

like Gary Oldman's character in "True Romance,"

a Tarantino tale that had impressed him.

I know I'm pretty.

Obviously, Tarantino wasn't really sold on it.

Didn't really want to change that character.

Yet again, the casting agent was lost for words.

Would Bruce be interested in another character?

Say, Butch? No, not that one.

The older one.

Bruce calls Tarantino in the morning

and tells Tarantino that he is in.

It was a really well-written piece of film.

I just, I want to be in it.

I wanted to be a part of the story.

You looking at something, friend?

You ain't my friend, palooka.

Willis wins Butch.

Travolta takes Vincent.

Now, who plays Jules?

That story begins when Jackson bumps into Tarantino

at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival,

where Quentin said,

"Hey, how do you like the guy

who plays your part, Holdaway?"

This better not be some kind of friggin' joke, man.

Because Jackson had auditioned for that role

in "Reservoir Dogs," but didn't get it.

Tarantino says, "Don't worry, we're gonna work together.

I'm writing something new, and I have a part for you in mind.

Obviously in Hollywood, that's probably said

a thousand times a day.

Well, lo and behold, a script shows up to Samuel L. Jackson,

it's "Pulp Fiction."

He saw the character of Jules, he loved the script.

But according to some,

the part of Jules was essentially a hand-me-down.

It was originally supposed to be

me and Lawrence Fishburne.

But he rejected the glam take on heroin.

And so along came Sam.

Who was now walking

into a classic Hollywood runaround.

What he didn't realize was that he was still expected

to audition for it.

And he's kind of confused by this

because he's been told this is his role.

And he wasn't prepared for it and by his own admission,

he didn't do very well.

But Tarantino decided to give Samuel L. Jackson another chance.

Hey kids. He has to come back in

and read for it again.

How you boys doing?

For a part that is supposed to be his.

I just want you to know--

So this infuriates Samuel L. Jackson.

So he actually uses the anger from that

to deliver the Ezekiel 25:17 speech.

And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance

- and furious anger-- - And blew everyone away.

Tarantino, Bender, and the rest turned to each other

and were like, "That is definitely our Jules."

This was divine intervention.

That was really Quentin's thing of taking two actors

that you never would think would be in this movie

in a million years.

And saying this is gonna change their careers,

but this is really gonna work.

We should have fucking shotguns.

But Quentin was keen to explore

the entire spectrum of acting talent.

Quentin simply went back to school

at the Groundlings Theater.

We did an improv show together,

and it was pretty amazing to see the film director

who had done that movie, "Reservoir Dogs,"

be funny on stage.

I know how good it is.

Another casting would be equally magnetic

and not because of her on-screen metallic features.

The one with all the shit in her face?

No, that's Jody.

That's my wife.

I got the phone call to meet Quentin in Swingers.

We had a milkshake and hung out

and then the next thing I knew

like he wanted me to do the movie.

All my piercing, 18 places on my body.

Every one of 'em done with a needle.

But there was one critical piece

of the "Pulp Fiction" puzzle missing.

- Mia. - Mia Wallace.

It needed somebody who had that chemistry.

Vincent.

We were going all over the place.

Gwyneth Paltrow to everybody else who was hot at that time.

An agent called me up about a young female comedian.

Ellen DeGeneres. Quentin, he didn't even know who she was.

I said, "She's a comedian."

He said, "Oh, that sounds interesting.

Why don't you read her, and if you think she's right--"

So Ellen DeGeneres came and read for me on that role.

Could Julia Louis-Dreyfus break the drought?

There was no way to do it because--

No, thank you.

Not right now.

She was doing "Seinfeld."

I'm a day person.

We just kept going back and forth and back and forth.

It was a complete casting dead end.

And sometimes somebody comes out of the blue.

Or out of their shell.

Hello.

Uma Thurman, she had been in the Terry Gilliam film,

"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"

as the Love Goddess, Venus.

She was a goddess, all right.

Had Tarantino finally found his muse?

I am overwhelmed.

It was going to be magic.

Except for one tiny problem.

Another diamond.

Uma had already discarded the idea.

She's turning it down like two or three times.

Tarantino finally calls her home and says, "Please,

let me read this to you.

And if you still don't want to do it, then fine."

He reads it, and of course,

if you've ever had an opportunity

to see Tarantino reading a script--

He'll do it in a voice, he'll act it out.

So I can only imagine the theater that it was

on the phone with going through all the parts.

By the time he was done,

Uma Thurman was cast as Mia Wallace.

But before he could even press play,

Tarantino found he had a major issue on his hands.

Quentin was fighting the studio.

his diverse ensemble cast of actors, r

but the studio were asking questions such as,

"What had their leading man been eating?"

The studio was trying to say he needed to lose weight

and he could drop at least 10 pounds and tighten it up.

They were on it and they didn't like the ponytail

and he was jowly.

Don't be rude.

And Quentin was fighting the studio.

"I want this guy to look a little has-been."

All Quentin Tarantino's team could do

was try to make everyone look the part.

What do they look like, Jimmie?

Dorks.

Quentin is always present at the first costume fitting

because for Tarantino costume is the character.

We were fitting Marsellus with the suit on,

and he had come in with a Band-Aid behind his neck.

Cut himself shaving because he's bald.

He said to Quentin, "Don't worry about it.

It'll be fine, but when we go to camera.

and Quentin was looking at it,

going, "You know, I kinda like this.

I think we need to keep this."

Night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting.

And it really worked.

It was like another little character statement.

We don't want to think.

We want to know.

Miramax was far from cool

about Travolta's unfashionable greasy hair.

Luckily, they didn't find out about Samuel L. Jackson's.

- Take care of her? - No.

I mean, who would send a PA out to get a wig?

I mean, oh my god.

What?

Tarantino had ordered an afro.

What he got was a Jheri curl.

Say "what" again!

Say "what" again!

But once Sam tried it on,

he thought it was in character

and convinced his director to keep it.

He ended up with this Jheri curl.

The only problem--

It was cheap. It was an issue.

You know, once you've got a cheap wig

and you're gonna see the netting and the this.

They were really struggling to make it work

- at the last minute. - Does he look like a bitch?

With Art Department and Wardrobe complete,

"Pulp Fiction" could start filming

the opening breakfast scene at California's Hawthorne Grill

on September 20th, 1993.

Put the extras where they were sitting.

But everyone would need to step up

and adjust to Tarantino's unconventional methods.

He's not from film school.

He broke all the rules.

You see, that shit don't matter.

He was sure that he would get the shots he needed.

That's why I always say I'm always right too.

It was really just up to us to just follow suite.

Let him make his movie.

Everybody be cool, this is a robbery!

You could feel immediately the difference

of any movie that I had been on.

Any of you fucking pricks move--

The energy and excitement was palatable.

It's cool, baby!

It's cool!

The script flew off the pages

as the actors delighted in every mouthful.

By that rationale, if a pig had a better personality,

he would cease to be a filthy animal.

Is that true?

Well, we have to be talking about

one charming motherfucking pig.

He's a master of dialogue,

and he's a master of taking that dialogue

and putting it into particular character's mouth.

We're all gonna be like three little Fonzies here.

And what's Fonzie like?

- Cool. - Correct-amundo!

And the dialogue between Vincent and Jules

- in this scene... - So tell me again

- about the hash bar. - Okay, what you want to know?

...was inspired by Quentin's Amsterdam experience.

Basically Jules is Tarantino returning

from his time in Europe.

It's legal to buy it.

It's legal to own it.

And if you're the proprietor of a hash bar,

it's legal to sell it.

And discussing with a friend the differences

of Europe and America to them.

They don't call it a Quarter-Pounder with cheese?

They got the metric system.

They wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter-Pounder is.

And what do they call it?

They call it the Royale with Cheese.

Royale with Cheese. That's right.

His dialogue was very important to him.

Very important.

But would that dialogue be too much

of a good thing?

Gave her a foot massage.

The foot massage walk from the elevator

down that hallway.

If you play with matches, you get burned.

That took a while.

It was a foot massage.

A foot massage is nothing.

A corridor that was too short.

And dialogue that was too long.

They arrive, still, and they have couple of pages left.

- This is the door. - What to do?

Can they walk a little bit slower?

- Just laying your hands-- - Could slowing down

- to a shuffle work? - No.

Would trimming the dialogue help?

No.

Every sentence was very important.

Classically trained Sekula

and self-taught Tarantino, put their heads together

and came up with an elegant on-the-spot solution.

What time you got?

So they look here, arrived too early.

Oh, what what about the cameras stay in the place?

Only just swing them and let them go

to the other part of the corridor.

A little bit exchange a few sentences and--

Just because I wouldn't give no man a foot massage--

They return now, is good time.

And actually this worked really well dramatically.

Not as dramatic as this.

And one shot.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Did I break your concentration?

Where Quentin would set up Jackson's terrifying

iconic monologue.

Quentin sees it beforehand.

You know, it's like, "So Sam,

I want you to grab the drink here."

Why is that happening?

"Just do it for me, please."

That hit the spot.

It was incredible to watch Sam play Jules.

Ezekiel 25:17.

The prayer talk.

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides--

It's delivered as if it was melted off the page

into his mind.

he is truly his brother's keeper--

Being on set with him, wow,

I'm getting paid to take a masterclass in acting.

Those who attempt to poison and destroy my brother.

You were frightened if you were behind

the third wall of the set.

And you will know my name is the Lord!

And hiding behind the wall of the set

was none other than Rosanna Arquette's brother.

Alexis Arquette was my trans sister,

but is a boy in the movie and is behind the door

when he's doing the preaching and he comes out shooting.

Die, you motherfuckers!

That's Alexis.

The object of Jackson's righteous fury

was Frank Whaley.

He stole the briefcase.

But in fact, Tarantino had already stolen it

from yet another movie.

The case that the hit men came to get,

that was something similar to some like '50s movie.

Called "Kiss Me Deadly."

And I was like, oh, I haven't seen that.

Another test for the true fans.

But the contents of the briefcase--

What is it?

Whatever the audience wanted.

It was funny because people watching the movie

had other ideas.

Is that what I think it is?

Gold revolver or something?

- I don't know. - That's his soul inside.

- Vincent! - I mean, I never got

an answer out of Quentin.

What do you think it was? Gold or whatever?

I said, "No, it was a piece of light

which my gaffer put inside."

- We happy? - Yeah, we happy.

Case closed on that scene.

But now, Marvin's head was about to get opened.

To blow all the brains out and hit the windshield.

We only got one take at that.

I didn't mean to do it. It was an accident.

"Pulp Ftion" was halfway through shooting,

but the minor role of Marvin

was about to come to a sticky end.

Our scene in the car, originally it was written

that Vince would shoot Marvin twice.

Once an accidental shot in the throat, and then second,

"Let me get him out of his misery."

And then they would kill him shooting him in the head.

Jesus Christ.

Quite reasonably,

Travolta thought shooting Marvin on purpose

might be too extreme because...

"The audience will hate me."

Marvin, what do you make of all this?

Quentin agreed with him.

He was like, okay, yeah, we'll just make it one shot.

The accidental shot just kills the kid in the back.

But it turns out having one's head blown off

is easier said than done.

As Quintin always says, "There was no digital effects

in the '70s, so we're not doing them now.

He wants you to think, use your brain,

and come up with something that isn't the easy solution.

You gotta call some people?

Well, then do it!

So we built a full body puppet.

The whole back of the head was stuffed

- with blood and brains. - Man, I don't even

- have an opinion. - Well, you gotta have

- an opinion. - It was rigged

with an air mortar fire, you know. One, two, three, boom.

Oh! Fuck's happening?

- Oh man! - Oh shit, man?

Oh man, I shot Marvin in the face.

We only got one take at that.

The cleanup was too messy, so it was one and done.

Yeah it was a fun scene and like getting them all bloody

and all brain matter and all that stuff.

So why isn't Marvin's puppet face

seen exploding on screen?

Quentin had a really interesting idea.

"These rating people are gonna want me

to take something out.

So I'll take out one violent thing..."

Well, look at this fucking mess, man!

...and replace it with something

a little less confronting.

Quinton said, "Hey, I want to do a shot

from outside the car of it driving,

and then we can see the blood on the back window."

Courtesy of the air mortar cannon

full of fake blood.

We were on the camera truck with the pyro guy

and follow it down the street.

God came down from heaven and stopped--

It worked a treat.

And Marvin's puppet head wasn't even in the shot.

Whatever Quentin wants to do,

that's gonna be the right way to do it.

It was great, and I trust him so much.

But the puppet wouldn't go to waste.

Neither would all those lessons Tarantino took

back in drama school.

- Jimmie. - Uh-huh?

He does have a thing for acting.

He loves that.

You an oak man?

Oak's nice.

You can just see the joy in him.

He's not the best actor in the world.

- Knock it off, Julie. - What?

But he loves the process.

Get 'em up there a little bit.

Nowadays when people see Quentin act, a lot of them say,

"Oh, he's not very good." But really what it is,

when you see Quentin acting, you see Quentin.

I don't need you to tell me

how fucking good my coffee is, okay?

I'm the one who buys it.

You're so overwhelmed by his presence

because everybody knows who he is.

You know what's on my mind right now?

It ain't the coffee in my kitchen.

That's right.

It was the dead body in the garage.

'Cause Quentin's like, "No, no, just make it all,

put tons of shit and like John has to get in there

and like pluck off brains off the ceiling."

And, you know, he's laughing the whole time.

He's hysterical laughing.

Oh man, I will never forgive your ass for this shit.

Sometimes it was hard

to believe different scenes were from the same movie,

with Tarantino switching from hyper-realism...

We gotta get this car off the road-

...to comic subtlety.

You were in that fight.

Quentin, he has a couple of grips

like shaking the taxi.

And I'm like, really Quentin?

You're gonna sit here and like shake the taxicab now?

We can't even get out on the street and put a camera

in the cab and let them like drive.

I don't feel the least bit bad about it.

He turned around to me and he goes,

"You don't understand.

I want my audience to remember

that they're just in a movie."

Just bring them back to, you know,

poor man's process, it's called.

"This way, they'll get relaxed and be calm

and they'll just remember they're just in an easy movie

so later on I can hit them again."

Because on one hand, you're doing hard real life.

And then on the other hand, you're doing stylized moments.

So you're constantly playing that out.

He's genius and he's a master

and he's editing it in his head.

Quentin's energy is infectious.

We're all having a good time.

It permeates through everybody.

It's incredible kind of atmosphere at his film set.

We would go to dailies to watch rushes

at the end of the day.

And it wasn't just heads of department.

Grips were showing up.

The lighting guys were showing up.

- And they had beer. - What you doing?

I'm calling my partner in Toluca Lake.

We would lay down on the floor in front of Quentin

and Sally Menke and listen to them talk

about what we had shot the day before.

You know, Quentin laughing at his own work,

but Sally talking really technical.

Then it just made it feel

like we were all doing this together.

It was a big party.

It was Camp Tarantino.

But what would happen

if one of the party members was unable

to continue making the movie?

Everybody went away for three days.

Andrzej and his girlfriend had taken a little trip

to New Mexico.

While I was driving I fell asleep

and was a horrendous car accident.

Polish directorf photography Andrzej Sekula

had been involved in a serious accident

while on a break from filming "Pulp Fiction."

On that trip, apparently,

Andrzej drove off a cliff and broke his leg.

I had to sign legal about amputation of my leg.

I was in hospital.

I was supposed to be back on the set, so I called Quentin.

I'm in big fucking trouble, man.

We have a little bit bad luck.

Whoa, hold your horses, man.

Now is huge panic.

Hang up the phone, prank caller, prank caller.

The company shut down to figure out

how we can continue shooting.

With Sekula waiting for surgery,

production worked to finish the single biggest budget spend

on "Pulp Fiction," the set of Jack Rabbit Slims,

a Tarantino Labor of Love with a $150,000 price tag.

I do believe Marsellus, my husband, your boss,

told you to take me out and do whatever I wanted.

Now I wanna dance, I wanna win--

The whole idea was to take those '50s retro restaurants

that are popping up everywhere and, you know,

create the big mamou of them all.

But a set without cameras

is like a restaurant without a chef.

Where was the DP?

Quintin called me, and I tell him, "I am fine."

I know, unbelievable.

He got through it.

They saved my leg, so I says I'm fine.

I'm, I am ready, I will be back.

But there was one small problem.

This time I was in a wheelchair.

Which meant hiring another set of hands,

well, legs, to operate Andrzej's camera.

They were carrying me like I was like Pharaoh.

Lifting me to the cameras,

just looking through camera, okay.

And "Pulp Fiction" was back on its feet

just in time for--

The world-famous Jack Rabbit Slim's Twist Contest.

Right here.

Twinkletoes himself had to prove

he was at least as good as Michael Madsen would have been

if he'd taken on the part of Vincent Vega.

♪ And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs ♪

He'd been Johnny Fever.

He'd been Johnny Danny.

He'd been Johnny Hoedown.

Stepping straight back into the groove,

Quentin's choice of leading man was redeemed yet again.

Doing it as a hit man, heroin addict, overweight thug,

was like a much more fascinating way to do a twist.

But Travolta's twist had a twist.

It was thought out.

It wasn't, hey, let's see what happens.

Quentin had his specific references that he wanted to hit.

References taken from Fellini's film "8 1/2."

And Tarantino asked Uma to channel Duchess

from "The Aristocats."

But it wasn't just cats, it was bats.

He had the "Batman" reference.

But one cultural reference

may have crossed the line from sublime to ridiculous.

Got the idea from that episode of "The Flintstones."

Really, a square.

You mean like four corners?

I wasn't planning on doing that,

but just before we're getting ready to shoot the shot,

I said, "Uma, make that distinctive

because if you dare me,

I just might do it in the movie."

She goes, "I dare ya."

- Don't be a... - Tarantino was testing

all corners of the box.

But he was about to push a hyper-realism

that would hopefully not push the studio too far.

Mind if I shoot up here?

Hey, mi casa su casa.

Quentin would needle everyone,

thanks to his old friend from acting school.

What I did on "Pulp Fiction" was,

it's a little embarrassing, but I'll say it anyway.

I think a lot of people know.

I used to be a drug addict in Detroit,

and so I worked with Uma Thurman.

I told her, a heroin overdose,

you kind of know you're in trouble, you can kind of feel it,

but then, the switch gets turned off.

I told John that when you're high on heroin,

it feels like you took a couple hits of tequila

and you're on a raft floating in a swimming pool

and the sun's beating down.

And I would go out to the set just to see what's going on.

The overdosing--

Was not a good day for the studio suits

to show up because remember...

Miramax was part of Disney.

That's very good.

There were times where it was like, "The suits are here."

And we would freeze.

We wouldn't shoot

because Quentin didn't want to have to change anything.

Say, "Oh, we're on break.

Yeah, it'll be another 45 minutes."

He was hoping they'd go.

When the cats went away, the mice could play.

Help me, pick her up.

With one playing a pivotal part

in a climactic scene.

Lance! What's going on down here?

And a woman is OD'ing and going to die in your living room.

- She's OD'ing! - Well, get her out of here!

It's pretty much easy to like go there and--

- Shut up! - Fuck you!

He let me improvise a little bit

because that's my favorite thing to do.

Like I did, like, the whole going, "Pig." That is me.

- Pig! - And he kept it.

But when it came to one shot--

In a stabbing motion.

So it's a slam down.

- Ready? - One...

It just comes alive because we're doing it.

There's something that happens

when the camera is like actually filming.

Two...

Rosanna Arquette found a way

to inject more personality into the scene.

Her whole thing is about her piercings, and so for me,

it was like the ultimate pierce and she gets off on it like,

oh my god, this is the ultimate pierce.

I played it like that and he loved that.

I want to be pierced like that, right in the heart.

But yeah, that scene's really memorable.

But Quentin was about to open a Pandora's box

of perversion to make the overdose scene look PG.

Bring out the gimp.

So I'm like, "What am I supposed to do with this?"

This guy comes out of the basement thing.

Kneel down.

So Quentin said to me,

"I want you to watch these three films.

There's a similar character in each of these three movies,

and he needs to look like that."

I don't remember them.

I just remember them being really off-beat weirdo films

from a long time ago.

So I just came up with a bunch of leather stuff.

A little bit of my own work, a little bit of Pleasure Chest.

Right on Santa Monica Boulevard, if anyone knows.

And there was our gimp.

But he was so creepy. All this, when they producing

this creature from the box.

It would be Tarantino's

most controversial scene yet,

and it called for a closed set.

No spectators, no exceptions.

We knew what was happening in there.

What was going on in there

was similar to what was going on here.

An homage to the excruciating rape scene in "Deliverance."

Was Quentin channeling all those movies

his stepdad took him to?

Movies that he was far too young to see

such as "Deliverance."

Was Tarantino trying to outgross "Deliverance"?

He was definitely grossing out everyone on set.

This was an uncomfortable couple of days

in that little dungeon down there.

I think it was so, I could say, "push envelope."

Quentin takes risks.

I mean, all very good directors take huge risks.

But he didn't want to risk

the ratings board cutting the scene,

so he added a sacrificial lamb.

When Bruce samurais him,

and we did a more elaborate, grosser version in there.

We made a spring-loaded chest splitting rig.

It pops open so it looks like it splits.

And we did a version where it was just

a red line down his shirt, like he got slashed.

But even with the safety shot,

was it all too much?

That was not easy for Bruce.

- You okay? - It wasn't easy for Ving.

- No, man. - I don't know

how that movie is going to show.

"Pulp Fiction" wrapped

its most controversial scene and finished the shoot

with a more family-friendly one.

Christopher Walken's famous monologue.

I carried this watch.

This watch was on your daddy's wrist

when he was shot down over Hanoi.

You know, you just, just get goosebumps.

Walken handed over the watch and "Pulp Fiction"

would be handed over to "Reservoir Dogs" editor,

Sally Menke.

Sally, she knows when to make a cut

that is most impactful.

Brilliant in terms of suspense.

Just stretching out a moment,

like just until the rubber band would snap.

And just as predicted, the censors only removed

Tarantino's built-in fail-safe shots.

Perfect. We couldn't have planned this better.

The Censors were happy.

"Pulp Fiction," rated R.

Roger Avary wasn't.

He still felt a bit hard done by.

Avary felt that he wasn't given as much credit

as he should have been due.

He obviously contributed to the watch strand,

but from Tarantino's side, he was more like, "No, no, no.

Roger just wrote that bit, I wrote all the rest.

I paid him for it, and it's my script."

Creative beefs were paused

as Pulp Fiction opened October 14, 1994,

on its first weekend grossing over $9 million,

making it the box office number one and a critical success.

This is a tasty burger.

It blew up so quickly.

Spend the hour with the writer

and director, Quentin Tarantino.

Quentin Tarantino.

I don't know if any of us were really prepared

for how huge it was.

"Pulp Fiction" exploded and went global.

Another film from Quentin Tarantino.

Making $213 million worldwide

on its $8 million budget.

"Pulp Fiction."

It was "Star Wars" for independent cinema.

But Quentin was about to make the jump

to hyperspace.

Best picture of the year. "Pulp Fiction."

Best achievement in directing, Quentin Tarantino.

John Travolta in "Pulp Fiction."

With seven nominations at the Academy Awards.

Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary for "Pulp Fiction."

Oscar goes to Quentin Tarantino

and Roger Avary for "Pulp Fiction."

Then he got an Oscar.

Well, Tarantino and Avary shared an Oscar.

Thanks.

The Academy saw it that way.

Maybe Quentin did not?

This has been a very strange year.

I can definitely say that.

But there was that moment and it was uncomfortable

during the Oscars.

Maybe I should just say a whole lot of stuff right here,

right now, just get it all out of my system--

They looked uncomfortable with each other.

And I really have to take a pee right now,

so I'm gonna go. Thank you.

But it was still everyone's night.

"Pulp Fiction" was a shared experience

and a victory for everyone in Tarantino's orbit.

If I had been in "Pulp Fiction"--

Instead of this actor,

or perhaps even this one--

It would have been a completely different movie.

And part of the reason why it was taken the way it was

is because of John.

John had been nowhere. He was doing movies

about talking babies.

And all of a sudden he's got long hair

and he's got a gun and--

"Pulp Fiction" kind of revitalized his career, you know?

Travolta, along with most of the leading cast,

was basking in the halo of acting

in an award-winning movie, and all the career

and financial success that follows.

Everyone apart from Rosanna Arquette,

who had previously encountered producer Harvey Weinstein

in his hotel room.

The incident happened before "Pulp Fiction."

My heart was racing.

As soon as-- It was like, "Danger, danger."

So I knew not to go in that room.

And after firmly

rejecting Weinstein's advances...

And he said, "Rosanna, you're making a very big mistake."

Arquette's rejection of Harvey Weinstein

clearly came at a cost,

but one she would never regret paying.

I'm the only person in all of "Pulp Fiction"

because everybody worked for scale,

but they all had a piece of the back end.

Not me.

And you know what, like,

as much as... poor guy has obviously had some real issues,

like he had great taste in films and directors.

One of those, and the most prestigious,

was Quentin.

And his next film could move

in a completely different direction.

What the fuck is up with this shit?

Adapting someone else's script.

"Jackie Brown" is ultimately a middle-aged love story.

After relaunching one career...

To be continued.

...Tarantino was going to try again.

He's like, "Who's that guy?"

You're taking a hell of a chance, kid.

But could these two down-and-out actors carry

the now mainstream director's third film?

What was I supposed to do?

Or would his run of hits come to an end?

How are you doing, Miss Jackie?

Come on in.