Making of: Pulp Fiction

Some behind the scenes stories from the people involved in the making of Pulp Giction, including Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman, John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, in an article from Vanity Fair.

Casting proved to be one of the biggest challenges in making the movie. Harvey Weinstein was dead-set against giving the role of Vincent Vega to John Travolta. "John Travolta was at that time as cold as they get," says Mike Simpson, Tarantino's agent at William Morris Endeavor. "He was less than zero." Simpson had given Weinstein a "term sheet" of Taran­tino's demands, which included final cut, a two-and-a-half-hour running time, and final choice of actors. "One of the actors I had on the list was John Travolta," says Tarantino. "And it came back: 'The entire list is approved . . . except for John Travolta.' So I got together with Harvey, and he's like, 'I can get Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Penn, William Hurt.'" By then, according to Simpson, "Daniel Day-Lewis and Bruce Willis, who was the biggest star in Hollywood, had both gotten their hands on the script and wanted to play Vincent Vega."

The negotiations for Travolta came down to the wire. "At midnight our time, three in the morning in New York, Harvey said, 'Let's just close the deal, and we'll address that tomorrow in good faith,'" Simpson recalls. But Simpson told him, "You're going to agree to it right now, or there's no deal.' Later, when the Weinsteins saw the finished film in Los Angeles, Harvey announced facetiously, 20 minutes into the screening, according to Richard Gladstein, then head of production at Miramax, "I'm so glad I had the idea to cast John Travolta."

Read the whole story on Vanity Fair.

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Photo by Annie Leibovitz