Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Harvey Keitel, Ving Rhames and Bruce Willis. With its burger-loving thugs, free-time dancers, and all manner of other heists, Quentin Tarantino completely wowed Cannes festivalgoers in 1994 with Pulp Fiction, which earned him the coveted Palme d’Or.

Quentin Tarantino’s second feature film holds a special place for John McClane’s interpreter. In the shoes of boxer Butch Coolidge, who is relentlessly hunted by Marcellus Wallace’s men, Bruce Willis blends perfectly into the film’s Tarantinesque landscape and instantly manages to appropriate its codes while remaining steadfastly himself.

In the podcast, the so-called 2 Bears, 1 Cave with Tom SeguraThe director explained exactly how Willis ended up being part of the adventure, which wasn’t necessarily his original intention. “This is interesting. At the time, he was probably in the top 5 and top 3 of the biggest stars. Initially, I wrote the role Matt Dillon. He told me that he was a big fan of my previous film script, Reservoir dogs“.

But instead of playing Butch, Dillon wanted to portray the character of Vincent, played by Travolta. The problem is that the film project has meanwhile received the green light from Miramax, which has approved the list of actors considered for the roles. So Dillon turned down the role, and Tarantino was left without an interpreter for Butch.

A sealed collaboration courtesy of Harvey Keitel

Organized by Harvey Keitel at his home, the collaboration between QT and Willis was confirmed. “I’d never met him before. And it turns out he’s a huge Reservoir Dogs fan. I mean huge fan. He said, ‘If I’d read Reservoir Dogs, I’d go for it!’ It’s one of mine Favorites, me and my friends watch it all the time. We know the dialogues by heart. We even repeat dialogues between ourselves “Wow, it’s really incredible!”

Tarantino explains that Harvey Keitel (who, remember, was very supportive Reservoir dogs) actually said a few words to Willis before this meeting, reading the script to the actor before the interview.

“You know, you should check it out, Quentin has a new script, there’s something you might like. And it’s coming out on Sunday, so if you want to say hello to him, now would be a good time. That’s exactly what Bruce called his agent and said, “Hey, give me this Tarantino script, I want to read it. So he had already read the script when he showed up at our meeting. Tell QT

From Vincent to Butch

After this small meeting, Bruce Willis and Tarantino went for a walk on the sea. “And then he let me go, ‘So listen, I read your script.’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, so I want to play Vincent.’ I’m like, ‘Well, the thing is, John Travolta has to play Vincent. He said to me: “Okay! John is great, John is beautiful! John is good, good. Here’s what we’ll do: “Johnny is good for Vincent and I don’t want to screw it up, okay?”

Willis then focuses on Julie’s character, but QT is clearly reluctant to change the writing of her character, who is supposed to be African-American as a bonus. The next day he tries to:

“You were naturally drawn to the character of Vincent, and you were naturally drawn to the character of Julie. There’s a third track that I think you’d be perfect for. And one of the reasons I think you’d be perfect for Butch. Is because I see him as a ’50s lead. , I mean she could be a 50s movie star.

And the actors that I think of when I think of Butch’s character are more 1950s actors like Ralph Meeker or one Aldo Ray. I just want to ask you to read the script again with the idea that you are playing Butch. I’m just asking you to read it with the other characters and with that character in mind.” The rest, as they say, is history.