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Quentin Tarantino once said that good actors always rise to the occasion. His 1994 masterpiecePulp Fictiongave a lot of would-be A-listers that platform to prove their worth to the world before the world knew them as Hollywood G.O.A.Ts. Now, Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Walken, Uma Thurman, and Tim Roth walk in the hallowed halls beyond Sunset Boulevard.
Pulp Fictionproved so monumental to the reinvention of Hollywood genre movies after the ’60s that even the then-washed John Travolta found a renaissance within the unforgiving film industry. Tarantino quickly rose from the ranks of a novice video store clerk to one of the greatest directors of all time, with such independent attention to detail that even his crime films are reconciled in the public eye as art films.
Meanwhile, Tarantino’s purist insight and knowledge as a cinephile allow him to use only the crème de la crème of the movie industry as foundational blocks of his films. And so, actors like Harvey Keitel and Christopher Walken serve to makeReservoir DogsandPulp Fictionsuch classics of the modern era.
Quentin Tarantino Uses Christopher Walken’s Magic
ForChristopher Walken, the movie industry holds as much fascination as a ray of sunshine does to a cat. The brimming creativity that he keeps locked away inside his vault of untapped potential finds an outlet inridiculous filmslikeThe Boy Who Saw Through,Life’s a Beach,Who Am I This Time?,Search and Destroy, the cancelled cyberpunk video game,Ripper, andSeven Psychopaths.
Walken finds magic in expressing that which has never been done before instead of partaking in the umpteenth Oscar-baiting drama that could give him a shot at winning the Academy Award. Perhaps that is what drew him toQuentin Tarantino‘s 1994 classic about the Los Angeles underworld where a series of events intertwine four stories in the most unexpected ways.
“I took him seriously”: Quentin Tarantino’s Brutal Reason Behind Giving a Washed Up Actor the Lead in ‘Pulp Fiction’ Proves Hollywood Needs Him Now More Than Ever
Among those events, Christopher Walken waltzes in for a brief yet phenomenal scene, delivers a 3-page monologue, and walks off the frame knowing he stole the film. In his iconic raspy voice and medley of accents, the wild and unpredictable actor opens himself up to be analyzed through the eyes of a 30-year-old filmmaker who until one other movie ago was only employed as a video store clerk.
Christopher Walken’s Inspiration forPulp Fiction
When interviewed by Gavin Smith for the July-August 1994 issue ofFilm Comment, Quentin Tarantino shared his perspective on why someone of Christopher Walken’s caliber would ever go for a pitch that reconstructed Hollywood’s hard-boiled take on pulp and pop fiction of the 1940s-60s.
The filmmaker then recalled the scene withWalken talking to the little boyin the living room about war and his birthright – the gold watch:
Three pages of monologue, this long story… Chris would do one take this way and one that way. He’s telling a three-part story about the First World War, the Second World War, and then Vietnam, and all three beats are very different. So I could use the more humorous take on the First World War and then the Second World War story where he’s talking about Wake Island, which is more tragic, I took his darkest take, and then for the Vietnam story I took his most irreverent one, which is the funniest.The whole thing with him is take it and run with it. He’s just so great at doing monologues, about the best guy that there is at it, and that’s why he did the movie, because he doesn’t get the chance to do three-page monologues in movies knowing its not gonna be cut.
Pulp Fiction Turns 30: Why Quentin Tarantino’s Iconoclastic Thriller Deserved the Oscar More Than Tom Hanks’ Forrest Gump
In a masterclass of acting, on Walken’s behalf, and film editing, on Tarantino’s part, the gold watch monologue became one of the most iconic film monologues ever shot in the history of cinema.
Ironically, the reason why Walken agreed to do the film is also one of the reasons why films shudder away from focusing on long monologues, afraid it would take the audience out of the moment and ruin the experience of the entire movie. That was never a source of concern for Tarantino who was nominated for 7 Oscars, along with Best Director, forPulp Fictionand went on to win one for Best Original Screenplay (along with Roger Avary).
Pulp Fictionis now streaming on Netflix.
Diya Majumdar
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2409
Diya Majumdar is a Senior Content Writer at FandomWire with over 2000 published articles on the website. Since 2022, she has been working as an entertainment journalist with a special focus on films and pop culture.Among the countless genres and themes of Hollywood, the ones that particularly favor Diya’s tastes include Game of Thrones, DC, and well-aged thrillers and classics.
