Editing Pulp Fiction (section)

== Production ==

=== Writing ===
[[File:Tarantino,_Quentin_(Scream1)_cropped.jpg|thumb|right|Director and co-writer, [[Quentin Tarantino]]]]
<span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">The roots of </span>''Pulp Fiction'' <span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">can be traced back to the late 1980s, when Quentin Tarantino and </span>[[Roger Avary]] <span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">worked together at </span>[[Video Archives]]<span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">, a video store in Southern California. Avary recalls that their initial concept was to create three short films with three different filmmakers—himself, Tarantino, and a friend, Adam Rifkin.</span><ref name="Gilchrist-2024">{{Cite web |last=Gilchrist |first=Todd |date=2024-10-14 |title='Pulp Fiction' Turns 30: How Quentin Tarantino's Masterpiece Saved Careers, Conquered Film Festivals and Changed Cinema Forever |url=https://variety.com/2024/film/news/pulp-fiction-quentin-tarantino-30th-anniversary-retrospective-part-one-1236175164/ |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> <span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">Avary wrote the first element of what would become the film's screenplay in the fall of 1990,{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=129}} titled "Pandemonium Reigns," which eventually expanded into a feature-length screenplay. While Tarantino's short film similarly evolved into a full script, Rifkin never completed his contribution, leaving </span>''Pulp Fiction'' <span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">initially uncertain.</span><ref name="Gilchrist-2024" /> The initial inspiration was the three-part horror [[anthology film]] ''[[Black Sabbath (film)|Black Sabbath]]'' (1963), by Italian filmmaker [[Mario Bava]]. The Tarantino–Avary project was provisionally titled "[[Black Mask (magazine)|Black Mask]]", after the seminal [[hardboiled]] [[Black Mask (magazine)|crime fiction magazine]].<ref name="T14" /> Tarantino's script was produced as ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]'', his directorial debut; Avary created the basis for the "Gold Watch" storyline of ''Pulp Fiction''.{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=167}}{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|pp=144–146}}<ref name="PR">{{cite news |last=MacInnis |first=Craig |date=October 8, 1994 |title=Heavyweight Tarantino Won't Be Taken Lightly |work=[[Toronto Star]]}}</ref><ref name="Creative">{{cite interview |last=Bauer |first=Erik |title=Method Writing: Interview with Quentin Tarantino - Originally published in January 1998 |url=https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/method-writing-interview-with-quentin-tarantino/ |access-date=March 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909053014/https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/method-writing-interview-with-quentin-tarantino/ |archive-date=September 9, 2021 |url-status=live |work=Creative Screenwriting |date=August 10, 2013}}</ref>

With work on ''Reservoir Dogs'' completed, Tarantino returned to the notion of a trilogy film: "I got the idea of doing something that novelists get a chance to do but filmmakers don't: telling three separate stories, having characters float in and out with different weights depending on the story."<ref>{{cite news|last=Lowry |first=Beverly |title=Criminals Rendered in 3 Parts, Poetically |work=The New York Times |date=September 11, 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/11/movies/the-new-season-film-criminals-rendered-in-3-parts-poetically.html |access-date=May 20, 2023}}</ref> Tarantino explains that the idea "was basically to take like the oldest chestnuts that you've ever seen when it comes to crime stories&nbsp;– the oldest stories in the book&nbsp;... You know, 'Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife'&nbsp;– the oldest story about&nbsp;... the guy's gotta go out with the big man's wife and don't touch her. You know, you've seen the story a zillion times."<ref name="PF93" /> "I'm using old forms of storytelling and then purposely having them run awry", he says. "Part of the trick is to take these movie characters, these genre characters and these genre situations and actually apply them to some of real life's rules and see how they unravel."<ref>"Pulp Fiction: The Facts" (1994 promotional interview), ''Pulp Fiction'' DVD (Buena Vista Home Entertainment).</ref> In at least one case, boxer Butch Coolidge, Tarantino had in mind a specific character from a classic Hollywood crime story: "I wanted him to be basically like [[Ralph Meeker]] as [[Mike Hammer (character)|Mike Hammer]] in [[Robert Aldrich|Aldrich]]'s ''[[Kiss Me Deadly]]'' [1955]. I wanted him to be a bully and a jerk".{{sfn|Dargis|1994a|p=10}}

Tarantino went to work on the script for ''Pulp Fiction'' in Amsterdam in March 1992,{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=139}} possibly at the Winston Hotel in the [[De Wallen|Red Light District]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Rick Steves Amsterdam & the Netherlands|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DBOCBgAAQBAJ&q=pulp%2520fiction%2520%2522the%2520winston%2522%2520tarantino%2520amsterdam&pg=PT168|publisher = Avalon Travel|date = 2015-04-14|isbn = 978-1-63121-067-9|first = Rick|last = Steves|access-date = October 18, 2020|archive-date = November 13, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201113181753/https://books.google.com/books?id=DBOCBgAAQBAJ&q=pulp%2520fiction%2520%2522the%2520winston%2522%2520tarantino%2520amsterdam&pg=PT168|url-status = live}}</ref> He was joined there by Avary, who contributed "Pandemonium Reigns" to the project and participated in its rewriting as well as the development of the new storylines that would link up with it.{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=167}}{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|pp=144–146}}<ref name="PR" /> Two scenes originally written by Avary for the ''[[True Romance]]'' screenplay, exclusively credited to Tarantino, were incorporated into the opening of "The Bonnie Situation": the "miraculous" missed shots by the hidden gunman and the rear seat automobile killing.{{sfn|Mottram|2006|p=71}} The notion of the crimeworld "cleaner" that became the heart of the episode was inspired by a short, ''Curdled'', that Tarantino saw at a film festival. He cast the lead actress, [[Angela Jones]], in ''Pulp Fiction'' and later backed the filmmakers' production of a feature-length version of the short, likewise titled ''[[Curdled (film)|Curdled]]''.<ref>Enhanced Trivia Track, ch. 13, ''Pulp Fiction'' DVD (Buena Vista Home Entertainment).</ref> The script included a couple of made-up commercial brands that often featured in later Tarantino films: [[Big Kahuna Burger|Big Kahuna burgers]] (a Big Kahuna soda cup appears in ''Reservoir Dogs'') and Red Apple cigarettes.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wells|first=Jeffrey|title=Searching for a Big Kahuna Burger|url=http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/07-96/07-12-96/c04ae104.htm|work=SouthCoast Today|date=1996-07-12|access-date=2007-09-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091008125832/http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/07-96/07-12-96/c04ae104.htm|archive-date=October 8, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> As he worked on the script, Tarantino also accompanied ''Reservoir Dogs'' around the European film festivals. Released in the United States in October 1992, the picture was a critical and commercial success. In January 1993, the ''Pulp Fiction'' script was complete.{{sfn|Charyn |2006|p=65}}{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|loc=p. 147: The published version of the screenplay identifies its basis as "May 1993/last draft," incorporating brief revisions made in August, September, and October (Tarantino [1994], n.p.)}}

The [[adrenaline]] scene was inspired by the Martin Scorsese documentary ''[[American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince]]'' about ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' actor Steven Prince, who played arms dealer Easy Andy in the film. Prince recalls injecting adrenaline into the heart of a woman who overdosed, with the help of a medical dictionary and a [[Magic Marker]].<ref name=YW>{{cite web|website=[[IndieWire]]|title=How the ‘Pulp Fiction’ Adrenaline Shot Scene Was Inspired by Scorsese’s ‘Lost Film’ — Watch|author=Dry, Jude|date=January 26, 2017|url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/pulp-fiction-overdose-scene-scorsese-tarantino-watch-1201773966/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Ultimate Guide To Martin Scorsese And His Directing Techniques|date=January 6, 2023|publisher=Indie Film Hustle|url=https://indiefilmhustle.com/ultimate-guide-to-martin-scorsese-and-his-directing-techniques/|author=Beyl, Cameron}}</ref>

=== Financing ===
Tarantino and his producer, [[Lawrence Bender]], brought the script to [[Jersey Films]]. Before even seeing ''Reservoir Dogs'', Jersey had attempted to sign Tarantino for his next project.{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=140}} Ultimately a development deal worth around $1&nbsp;million had been struck: The deal gave [[A Band Apart]], Bender and Tarantino's newly formed production company, initial financing and office facilities; Jersey got a share of the project and the right to shop the script to a studio.{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=146}}{{sfn|Biskind|2004|loc=p. 167: Biskind says $1&nbsp;million}}{{sfn|Polan|2000|loc=p. 68: Polan says "close to a million dollars"}}<ref>Enhanced Trivia Track, ''Pulp Fiction'' DVD, says $900,000 (ch. 14)</ref> Jersey had a distribution and "first look" deal with [[Sony Pictures|Columbia TriStar]], which paid Tarantino for the right to consider exercising its option.{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=148}} In February, ''Pulp Fiction'' appeared on a ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' list of films in [[pre-production]] at [[TriStar Pictures|TriStar]].<ref>{{cite news |title=TriStar Pictures Slate for 1993 |url=https://variety.com/1993/film/news/tristar-pictures-slate-for-1993-103729/ |work=Variety |date=1993-02-05 |access-date=2007-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630001906/http://www.variety.com/article/VR103729.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&query=%22pulp+fiction%22+1994+tarantino |archive-date=June 30, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> In June, however, the studio put the script into [[Turnaround (filmmaking)|turnaround]].{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=148}} According to a studio executive, TriStar chief [[Mike Medavoy]] found it "too demented".{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=168}} There were suggestions that TriStar was resistant to back a film featuring a heroin user; there were also indications that the studio simply saw the project as too low-budget for its desired star-driven image.{{sfn|Polan|2000|pp=68–69}}{{sfn|Biskind|2004|pp=167-168}} Avary{{em dash}}who was about to start shooting his own directorial debut, ''[[Killing Zoe]]''{{em dash}}has said that TriStar's objections were comprehensive, encompassing the script's fundamental structure. He characterizes the studio's position: {{"'}}This is the worst thing ever written. It makes no sense. Someone's dead and then they're alive. It's too long, violent, and unfilmable.' ...&nbsp;So I thought, 'That's that!{{'"}}{{sfn|Mottram|2006|p=71}}

Bender brought the script to [[Miramax|Miramax Films]], the formerly independent studio that had recently been acquired by [[Disney]]. [[Harvey Weinstein]]{{em dash}}co-chairman of Miramax Films, along with his brother [[Bob Weinstein|Bob]]{{em dash}}was instantly enthralled by the script and the company picked it up.{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=168–169}} [[Michael Shamberg]], the executive producer, reflected on the bidding process, saying, "Only Harvey [Weinstein] placed a bid. Harvey believed he was engaged in a bidding war, but he wasn't. Even now, whenever I see [[Robert Shaye|Bob Shaye]], he expresses regret for turning down ''Pulp Fiction''. Quentin initially wanted to collaborate with [[Mike Medavoy]], given Medavoy's history with the great [[Orion Pictures|Orion]] films. Ironically, when the opportunity arose, Mike deemed the script too violent."<ref name="Gilchrist-2024" /> ''Pulp Fiction'', the first Miramax Films project to get a [[Green-light|green light]] after the [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] acquisition, was budgeted at $8.5&nbsp;million, and at the end $500,000 was returned, bringing the final budget to $8 million.{{efn|name="8.5 Budget"}}<ref name="Gilchrist-2024" /> According to Bender, a lower budget meant that the producers could maintain more control over the movie itself.<ref name="Gilchrist-2024" />
It became the first movie that Miramax Films completely financed.{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=149}} Helping hold costs down was the plan Bender executed to pay all the main actors the same amount per week, regardless of their industry status.{{sfn|Polan|2000|p=69}}{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=148}} ''The New York Times'' reported, "Most of the actors received relatively small salaries along with a percentage of the profits."<ref>{{cite news |last=Weinraub |first=Bernard |title=A Film Maker and the Art of the Deal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/22/movies/a-film-maker-and-the-art-of-the-deal.html |work=The New York Times |date=1994-09-22 |access-date=2007-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709114430/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/22/movies/a-film-maker-and-the-art-of-the-deal.html |archive-date=July 9, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> The biggest star to sign on to the project was [[Bruce Willis]]. Though he had recently appeared in several big-budget flops, he was still a major overseas draw. On the strength of his name, Miramax Films garnered $11&nbsp;million for the film's worldwide rights, virtually ensuring its profitability.{{sfn|Biskind|2004|loc=p. 170: Tarantino claims the overseas sales were due to his own name}}{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=173}}

=== Casting ===
[[Danny DeVito]], one of the film's executive producers,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kuperinsky |first=Amy |date=2024-10-14 |title=Danny DeVito: 'Pulp Fiction' producer Harvey Weinstein reamed me out for casting N.J. legend |url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2024/10/danny-devito-pulp-fiction-producer-harvey-weinstein-reamed-me-out-for-casting-nj-legend.html |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=nj |language=en}}</ref> recalls that Weinstein suggested casting [[Daniel Day-Lewis]], who had just won an [[Academy Award]] for ''[[My Left Foot]]''. DeVito responded by stating that Tarantino wanted John Travolta and reminded Weinstein that he had final cut and cast approval. He later reflected: "I think he [Weinstein] called me every name in the book, but of course, Quentin got what he wanted, and he was absolutely right, and the rest is history."<ref name="Gilchrist-2024" /> 

Bender noted that during the casting process, while Samuel L. Jackson's initial audition was impressive, another candidate later delivered a performance that "blew them away." This prompted Bender to inform Jackson's agent that they might need to consider the other actor. The agent firmly insisted, "No, no, no, you can't do that. Sam will come back." Initially hesitant to ask him for another audition, Bender discovered that Jackson believed he was simply reading for the role, not auditioning, and his subsequent return resulted in an outstanding performance.<ref name="Gilchrist-2024" />

Tim Roth, initially interested in the role meant for Willis, suggested Amanda Plummer as a co-star, insisting she should have a gun as he thought it would be "terrifying" - a notion Tarantino later incorporated into the script.<ref name="Gilchrist-2024" />

Harvey Keitel played a crucial role in getting ''Reservoir Dogs'' made and introduced Bruce Willis to Tarantino. Bender and Tarantino went to see him at his house in Malibu, where they learned that he could recite practically the entire movie of ''Reservoir Dogs,'' a movie he loved. After a conversation, Tarantino and Willis took a walk on the beach, where Willis revealed he'd read the ''Pulp Fiction'' script and expressed interest in playing Vincent or Jules. Tarantino encouraged him to read the script one last time with the Butch character in mind. Willis called Tarantino the next day and said, "the shortest sentence in the Bible is, 'Jesus wept.' The shortest sentence in Hollywood is, 'I'm in.'"<ref name="Gilchrist-2024" />

=== Filming ===
[[File:Willis in Pulp Fiction.jpg|right|thumb|Willis evoked one 1950s actor in particular for Tarantino: "[[Aldo Ray]] in [[Jacques Tourneur]]'s ''[[Nightfall (1957 film)|Nightfall]]'' [1956]&nbsp;... I said let's go for that whole look."{{r|n=AldoRay|r=Quoted in {{harvtxt|Dargis|1994a|p=10}}. Other sources have claimed that Butch was patterned after Ray's ''Nightfall'' role.<ref>{{harvtxt|Brooker|Brooker|1996|p=234}}</ref> Tarantino's one public statement on the topic, quoted in Polan,<ref>{{harvtxt|Polan|2000|p=23}}</ref> is clearly devoted to Butch's look and not his personality.}} His boxing robe, designed by [[Betsy Faith Heimann|Betsy Heimann]], exemplifies Tarantino's notion of costume as symbolic armor.{{sfn|Dargis|1994b|p=17}}]]

[[Principal photography]] commenced on September 20, 1993.{{sfn|Polan|2000|pp=69, 70}} The lead offscreen talent had all worked with Tarantino on ''Reservoir Dogs''&nbsp;– [[cinematographer]] [[Andrzej Sekuła]], [[Film editing|film editor]] [[Sally Menke]], [[production designer]] [[David and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco|David Wasco]], and [[costume designer]] [[Betsy Faith Heimann|Betsy Heimann]]. According to Tarantino: "[W]e had $8&nbsp;million. I wanted it to look like a $20–25&nbsp;million movie. I wanted it to look like an epic. It's an epic in everything&nbsp;– in invention, in ambition, in length, in scope, in everything except the price tag."<ref name="T8">Enhanced Trivia Track, ch. 8, ''Pulp Fiction'' DVD (Buena Vista Home Entertainment).</ref> The film, he says, was shot "on [[Film speed|50 ASA]] film stock, which is the slowest stock they make. The reason we use it is that it creates an almost [[Film grain|no-grain]] image, it's lustrous. It's the closest thing we have to 50s [[Technicolor]]."{{sfn|Dargis|1994b|p=18}} The largest chunk of the budget&nbsp;– $150,000&nbsp;– went to creating the Jack Rabbit Slim's set.{{sfn|Polan|2000|p=69}}{{Sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=159}} It was built in a [[Culver City, California|Culver City]] warehouse, where it was joined by several other sets, as well as the film's production offices.{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|pp=159–160}} The diner sequence was shot on location in [[Hawthorne, California|Hawthorne]] at the Hawthorne Grill, known for its [[Googie architecture]].{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|loc=p. 158: The Hawthorne Grill was torn down not long after the ''Pulp Fiction'' shoot}} For the costumes, Tarantino took his inspiration from French director [[Jean-Pierre Melville]], who believed that the clothes his characters wore were their symbolic suits of armor.{{sfn|Dargis|1994b|p=17}} Tarantino cast himself in a modest-sized role as he had in ''Reservoir Dogs''. One of his pop totems, [[Monster cereals|Fruit Brute]], a long-discontinued [[General Mills]] cereal, also returned from the earlier film.{{sfn|Hoffman|2005|p=46}} The shoot wrapped on November 30.{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=164}} Before ''Pulp Fiction''{{'}}s premiere, Tarantino convinced Avary to forfeit his agreed-on cowriting credit and accept a "story by" credit, so the line "Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino" could be used in advertising and onscreen.{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=170}}