It’s hard to imagine anyone but John Travolta playing Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 masterpiece, Pulp Fiction, but it turns out that Travolta wasn’t exactly Tarantino’s first choice for the role. Michael Madsen was Tarantino’s original pick to play Vega, with Alec Baldwin, Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton also in the running according to new documents published online on Reddit.
But it wasn’t just Travolta’s character that could have turned out differently.
The leaked two hand-typed sheets of paper also suggest that Uma Thurman was not even in the original running to play mob wife Mia Wallace. Actresses Virginia Madsen, Marisa Tomei, Patricia Arquette and Phoebe Cates were all top candidates for the role.
John Cusack was Tarantino’s first choice to play Vincent’s drug dealer Lance, the role that eventually went to Eric Stoltz. Patricia Arquette tops a list of names considered for the role of Jody, Lance’s wife – the role eventually went to her sister Rosanna.
Danny DeVito was listed for the part of Winston Wolfe, Marcellus Wallace’s sinister “cleaner”. Meanwhile, Matt Dillon, Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage and Johnny Depp were all ahead of Bruce Willis for the role of boxer Butch.
Christopher Walken appears to have always been Tarantino’s top choice to play Captain Koons, the Vietnam vet who appears to young Butch in the memorable flashback scene to hand over a gold watch. But other venerable actors considered for the quirky role included Sean Penn, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.
Pulp Fiction remains Tarantino’s biggest box office hit. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards (including one for Thurman as best supporting actress) and is credited with reigniting Travolta’s career.
