“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. I want that trophy. So dance good.”
Quentin Tarantino had written two of the three overlapping stories before he wrote Reservoir Dogs (1992) and True Romance (1993). The role of Vincent Vega was originally written for Michael Madsen, who played the character’s brother, Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs (1992), but he couldn’t do it due to scheduling conflicts. Daniel Day-Lewis wanted it, but Tarantino turned him down in favor of John Travolta. Matt Dillon discussed playing the role of Butch as an up and coming boxer, but wouldn’t commit. So Tarantino rewrote the part and briefly considered Sylvester Stallone before giving it to Bruce Willis, who had been disappointed at not being signed to play Vincent. Isabella Rossellini, Daryl Hannah, Meg Ryan, Joan Cusack, and Michelle Pfeiffer where all interviewed for the role of Mia Wallace. Tarantino preferred Michelle Pfeiffer until he met with Uma Thurman – who turned it down at first. Tarantino became so intent on casting her as Mia, he read her the script over the phone to convince her. He wrote the part of Winston Wolf specifically for Harvey Keitel and the character of Jules Winnfield for Samuel L. Jackson – although he almost cast Paul Calderon after a great audition. Jackson had to fly to Los Angeles and audition a second time to secure the role. Calderon ended up playing Paul the bartender. The parts of Honey Bunny and Pumpkin were written specifically for Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth. Pulp Fiction cost $8 million to make with $5 million going to actors’ salaries. It made $108 million at the box office.
