Pulp Fiction - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Pulp Fiction or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Pulp Fiction

[russell]

The book Vincent reads throughout most of the film is the first Modesty Blaise novel, which tracks the adventures of female spy Modesty Blaise. Though not of general reference to anything in the movie, it could be noted that Modesty is of some comparable significance to Mia's earlier mentions of "Fox Force Five," a show about a group of female spies. The edition Vincent reads has a mock-up cover that Tarantino had his prop department make, based upon the cover of an early edition of the novel.

[ray]

James Gandolfini was considered for the role of Vincent Vega he refused instead recommending his friend, John Travolta.

[bernard]

When Quentin Tarantino reached out to Bruce Willis' agent, Quentin referred to him as "Joe Hallenbeck", Willis' character in The Last Boy Scout (1991). Tony Scott, who directed True Romance (1993), and was a close friend of Tarantino, directed the film.

[francisco]

This is the first of many collaborations of Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson, unless you count True Romance (1993), which Tarantino wrote, but didn't direct. It was Tony Scott who directed.

[kim]

Out of the fifty-four cast members, fifty of them are listed as "Known For" this movie.

[jessie]

Reservoir Dogs (1992) cast members Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Robert Ruth, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, and Lawrence Bender all feature in this movie. Roth and Ruth are in the scene in the coffee shop. Tarantino and Keitel are in a scene near the end, before the grand showdown in the coffee shop. Buscemi and Bender are the only two Reservoir Dogs (1992)(1992) cast members not to be together in a scene in the film.

[bernice]

The Guy in Black is "The Gimp," an extreme sexual submissive who is apparently kept prisoner in Maynard and Zed's basement. The character was Roger Avary's idea, who was inspired by Deliverance (1972) (1972). Unfortunately, nothing is specified about the character's origin or the circumstances of his time in the basement, except that he has no apparent desire to be freed. Another character named "Russell" once inhabited the same room. The screenplay implies that Russell was a previous prisoner whom Maynard and Zed eventually killed. The text commentary on the Pulp Fiction Special Edition DVD is similarly vague. It only refers to the Gimp a few times, and calls Butch the "victim of violence" and the Gimp the "perpetrator of violence." Edit

[kristen]

The MAC-10 isn't Vincent's, it belongs to Marsellus, who is staking out Butch's apartment with Vincent, but has gone for coffee and donuts, breakfast for himself and Vincent--Marsellus wouldn't have been able to conceal the MAC-10 on his person very easily if he'd taken it with him to get breakfast. Butch is extremely fortunate: his timing couldn't have been better when he entered his apartment while Marsellus was gone and Vincent was in the bathroom. Vincent probably hears Butch come in, but believing it is Marsellus, is not alarmed. As Butch is driving away after having retrieved his watch and killed Vincent, he encounters Marsellus on his way back to the apartment, carrying a box of donuts and two cups of coffee. The "trivia track" on the DVD confirms this interpretation to be correct. An added explanation that does not disagree with the above but adds a psychological dimension is that Vincent is demonstrably very careless with guns. In another scene, this carelessness costs someone else (Marvin) his life. Here, Vincent carelessly assumes that Butch would not be dumb enough to come back to his own apartment and, so, allows the gun to go unattended in the kitchen while he uses the facilities. (Vincent is seen to be using the facilities more often than any other character in the movie, at least three times, twice while reading the same book. The theme throughout the film is that whenever Vincent goes into the bathroom, something bad happens: Mia overdoses on his heroin, he's killed by Butch, and he finds himself in the middle of Pumpkin & Honeybunny's robbery of the restaurant.) It's also not out of the realm of possibility that Vincent didn't even know Marsellus had put the MAC-10 on the counter. If Vincent likes to read while using the restroom, it's entirely possible he was in there a while and may have been in there before Marsellus even left.

[sandra]

Vincent mentions that European cinemas serve beer, unlike in America. In the twenty-first century, it is now commonplace for movie theaters to serve alcohol.

[carl]

On the wall of the pawn shop, there is a license plate bearing "SW 4913". This is no coincidence, but rather Quentin Tarantino paying homage to the Smith & Wesson 4913 pistol.

[ava]

Quentin Tarantino wrote two of the three stories before he wrote Reservoir Dogs (1992) and True Romance (1993). After the success of those films, he decided to write a third story, intending to have each segment directed by a different person.

[ethel]

Jimmie is wearing a t-shirt bearing the logo of "Orbit", a local alternative newspaper in Metro Detroit, for which Quentin Tarantino did an interview when he was promoting Reservoir Dogs (1992).

[liam]

In the diner bathroom, and in the bathroom in Butch's apartment, Vince is reading a copy of the Peter O'Donnell book "Modesty Blaise". Quentin Tarantino has expressed the desire to film a "Modesty Blaise" movie, and sponsored a direct-to-video release of the movie "My Name is Modesty".

[carla]

According to the script, "The Bonnie Situation" was originally supposed to be titled "Jules, Vincent, Jimmie, and The Wolf".

[frances]

Ving Rhames turned down a role in Renaissance Man (1994) to star in this movie.

[nicholas]

Courtney Love claimed that Quentin Tarantino originally wanted Kurt Cobain and her to play Lance and Jody. However, Tarantino denies ever having even met Kurt, much less offering him a part.

[francisco]

In Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), in the gunfight scene in the Utramart convenience store, in the background, there's a cut-out stand-up of the four main characters from this movie. During the ensuing submachine gun battle, the only character on the Pulp Fiction (1994) stand-up that gets blown away, is Samuel L. Jackson's "Jules Winnfield".

[camila]

Cast members Burr Steers (Roger/Flock of Seagulls) and Peter Greene (Zed) have the same birthdate, October 8, 1965.

[scarlett]

The house that was used as Jimmie Dimmick's (Quentin Tarantino's) house was owned by a press agent named Jack Mullen who passed away in 1972. His son Mike Mullen still owned the house, and is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. There was an article titled "A story arc worthy of Hollywood" about this in the July 30, 2007 edition of the Los Angeles Times.