Danny DeVito has been involved in many things throughout his decades-long career. The long list of credits to his name runs the gamut from movies and TV shows to stage plays and music videos. But if there’s one thing he doesn’t get enough credit for, it’s his work on the production side of things. In 1991, DeVito founded Jersey Films, and since then the company has produced such notable films as Reality Bites, Matilda, Erin Brockovich, and, believe it or not, even How High.
One of the biggest hits for DeVito’s production company, however, was Quentin Tarantino’s sophomore effort, Pulp Fiction. The 1994 film weaves together four crime stories set in the Los Angeles area and features unforgettable performances from John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, and Bruce Willis. DeVito was introduced to Tarantino in 1991, and at that time, Reservoir Dogs hadn’t been finished yet. He spoke with the up-and-coming director for only a few minutes before telling him, “I want to make a deal with you for your next movie, whatever it is.”
Following the release of Reservoir Dogs in 1992, Tarantino sent DeVito his final draft for Pulp Fiction, which came out to a whopping 155 pages. “I tucked myself into a sofa with a cup of tea and I laughed my ass off,” said DeVito. “I loved it from the very beginning to the very end. The big question was that it was 155 pages. I had this woman I worked with, Wilma, who was my script supervisor, and she used to time things for me. You usually go a page a minute, and the final running time of the movie was 154 minutes.”
DeVito started shopping it around, but it was passed on by everyone he showed it to, except Harvey Weinstein. There was just one problem from there: Weinstein wanted Daniel Day-Lewis to play Travolta’s character, Vincent Vega. DeVito explained to him that Tarantino was adamant about Travolta playing the part and was promptly called “every name in the book” for relaying the information. Ultimately, DeVito had the final say on casting decisions and went along with Tarantino.
Looking back on everything, DeVito told Variety, “I had no inkling that it was going to be such a seminal, revered piece of work. I have seen the movie, I don’t know how many times. No, I had no premonition that it was going to wind up being [Tarantino’s] masterpiece, which it is. You can watch it tomorrow and get the same feelings that you had 30 years ago.”
The post You Can Thank Danny DeVito for Getting ‘Pulp Fiction’ Made appeared first on VICE.
