One of Quentin Tarantino’s favorite actors, Samuel L. Jackson, returns with some anecdotes about his debut with the filmmaker.
Actor Samuel L. Jackson seems to be getting used to Apple TV+ since after the series The Last Days of Ptolemy Graythe actor will soon return to the SVoD platform with the new film by Matthew Vaughn, Argylle. A tireless interpreter who, before playing with John McTiernan, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Soderbergh and M. Night Shyamalan, and going through enormous sagas like that of the MCU and Star Warsaccompanied the early career of a filmmaker who is still talked about a lot today, Quentin Tarantino.
Indeed, whether with Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill 2 (yes you will look), Inglourious Basterds (as narrator), Django Unchained and The Dirty Eight, we can say that this collaboration has been fruitful. But sometimes, the most beautiful stories can have tumultuous beginnings. Evidenced by that of Samuel L. Jackson and Quentin Tarantino therefore who, as the actor shared at the microphone of Sirius XM for the podcast The Jess Caglebegan in the early 90s with the cast of Reservoir Dogs :
Samuel L. Jackson will reunite with Tim Roth on the set of Pulp Fiction
“The first time I met Quentin it was for Reservoir Dogs. He was one of the people who read with me, him and Lawrence Bender, the producer. I was supposed to audition with Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth, but these two guys showed up, and I was like, “Who are these two guys?” Besides, they were infected. I left the cast saying, “I know I’m not gonna get this job, these guys stink, who the fuck were they?”, I had no idea who they were. »
Samuel L. Jackson therefore reveals that he had already met Quentin Tarantino before their first collaboration for Pulp Fictionduring the cast of the director’s first feature film. The anecdote is amusing, with Samuel L. Jackson facing Harvey Keitel (who shot for Scorsese, Altman and Scott) and Tim Roth (who exploded in Made in Britain before going to Frears, Greenaway and Altman) without recognizing the guys.
After the casting of Reservoir Dogs, the revenge of Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp FIction
The actor therefore auditioned for the role of Holdaway, an undercover policeman, who would eventually be played by Randy Brooks in the film released in 1992. After this unfortunate casting, the paths of the two artists quickly crossed again during a screening of Reservoir Dogs at the Sundance festival, where Tarantino said he would write a role for Jackson. A few months later, the scenario of Pulp Fiction arrived at the actor.
Samuel L. Jackson therefore interpreted the role of Jules in Tarantino’s second film and which will receive the Palme d’Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. A role which will remain among the most representative of the generosity and charisma of the actor which he had fun telling another anecdote. For example, many sequences included in the script would have been cut, including a dream replay of the dinner scene with the same Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer:
The extended diner scene
“In the diner, when Tim Roth asks me to open the briefcase, and I do, I shoot him in the face and kill Honeybunny who was on the counter. When I open my eyes, they’re still there, because That’s what I would have done before [Jules] transition.”
The original screenplay Pulp Fiction had fun watching Jules slaughter Tim Roth and Amanda Plummerbefore finally returning to reality and the first one ending up “buy life” of the second, instead of taking it away. The modification of the scenario probably dried up a little a story already rich in temporal round trips and multiplicity of points of view.
Remember that we are still waiting to be fixed on the nature of Quentin Tarantino’s tenth – and normally last – filmwhich still casts doubt on a potential return to the western.
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