Quentin Tarantino's Actor Wish List For Pulp Fiction Unearthed

Pulp Fiction could have been so very different…

Currently doing the rounds online is this shot of a page from what appears to be a script, detailing who Quentin Tarantino wanted for his career-cementing 1994 movie.

- Tarantino ‘made a mistake’ with Grindhouse
- First Hateful Eight trailer
- Has Tarantino ‘borrowed’ the plot of new movie?

For example, while the small role of Pumpkin was penned for Tim Roth, had Roth been tied up, Johnny Depp was a strong second choice… and maybe even Nicolas Cage.

As is well known by Tarantino buffs, the part of Vincent Vega was written specifically for Michael Madsen, but Madsen passed, causing a rift between the pair that would last years.

It ended up revitalising John Travolta’s ailing career.

Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton were also ‘strong possibilities’.

Meanwhile, John Cusack was the original Lance, the drug-dealing, cereal-eating hippy, but Eric Stolz ended up stepping in.

This page only covers half of the casting situation on the movie, however.

Producer Harvey Weinstein desperately wanted Daniel Day-Lewis for the role of Vega, rather than Travolta.

Travolta told the Daily Beast last year, on the movie’s 20th anniversary: “I remember it was a big deal with Miramax, too, because Daniel Day was hotter than heck and I was colder than Alaska, so the idea that Quentin went for me over Daniel Day-Lewis was a very big deal.

“But I understand now, in retrospect, why he did. By using Uma, me, and Bruce, he balanced it with pop culture, and that wouldn’t have happened with Daniel Day or anyone else vying for that part.”

Steve Buscemi also nearly played the role of Jimmie, the role Tarantino took for himself – Buscemi couldn’t schedule the role, so instead took the tiny cameo of the waiter at Jackrabbit Slim’s.

Meanwhile, Matt Dillon was who Tarantino initially wanted for Bruce Willis’s Butch, the washed up boxer.

But after reading the script, Dillon asked to 'sleep on it’.

That wasn’t good enough for Tarantino, who reportedly said: “He’s out. If he can’t tell me face-to-face that he wants to be in the movie - after he read the script - he’s out.”

And the rest, as they say, is history…

Image credits: Hitfix/Imgur/Miramax