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15 Behind-The-Scenes Stories From 'Reservoir Dogs' That Are As Intense As The Movie Itself
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Harvey Keitel Used His Own Money To Pay For Casting
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In a true act of kismet, the wife of producer Lawrence Bender's acting coach was acquainted with actor Harvey Keitel. The legendary actor was handed the script for Reservoir Dogs and loved it. Quentin Tarantino describes the first time he spoke with Keitel, "He just called us up three days later and said, 'Look, consider me in. Not only do I want to do it, I want to be one of the producers. I want to help get it made. Whatever I can do, let me know.'"
Tarantino was a fan of Keitel, and he was more than willing to cast him in his directorial debut. The film's budget went from $30,000 to around $1.5 million because of Keitel's commitment to the movie. He also contributed some of his personal funds to help finance the picture, even flying the production crew to New York to find more actors. This trip secured Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen.
Fascinating fact? - 2
Working With Lawrence Tierney Was A Nightmare
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Veteran character actor Lawrence Tierney, who played his fair share of goons on the big screen, was cast to play caper organizer and leader Joe Cabot. Unfortunately for Quentin Tarantino, this casting decision almost ruined his directing career in its first week. He said of the actor:
Tierney was a complete lunatic by that time - he just needed to be sedated. We had decided to [film] his scenes first, so my first week of directing was talking with this f*cking [guy]... By the end of the week, everybody on set hated Tierney - it wasn't just me. And in the last 20 minutes of the first week, we had a blowout and got into a [fight]. I fired him, and the whole crew burst into applause.
Tarantino has Harvey Keitel to thank for possibly saving his career. The actor stepped up and talked to the studio in defense of the director.
Fascinating fact? - 3
Mr. Blonde's Cadillac Actually Belonged To Michael Madsen
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While filming Reservoir Dogs, Michael Madsen drove a yellow Cadillac. For one scene, the production planned to rent a car for Mr. Blonde; however, the idea struck Madsen as unnecessary. The actor recalled, "[My car] was in the parking lot right outside the warehouse where we were [filming]. They were gonna go to Budget Rent-a-Car and get a car for Mr. Blonde."
Madsen ended up saying to the producers, "Wait, wait, wait... let's use my car!"
Fascinating fact? - 4
Michael Madsen Improvised The Ear-Cutting Scene
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Michael Madsen didn't rehearse the ear-cutting scene and felt intimidated by it: "In the script it said, 'Mr. Blonde maniacally dances around,' and I kept thinking, 'What the f*ck does that mean? Mick Jagger?'" Madsen stated he also felt uncomfortable acting out the intense scene because he had a small child at the time.
What's more, the young cop in the film begs Mr. Blonde for his life by telling him he's a father with young kids. Madsen was finally able to push aside his issues and draw his dance inspiration from an unlikely source: "I started thinking about this weird little thing Jimmy Cagney did in a movie that I saw, that's where it came from."
Fascinating fact? - 5
Quentin Tarantino Planned To Use His 'True Romance' Money To Make 'Reservoir Dogs'
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Before Quentin Tarantino became a director, he was a writer. In 1991, he worked his way onto the set of Tony Scott's film, The Last Boy Scout, and handed the director two finished scripts. One was for Reservoir Dogs and True Romance was the other. Scott read the two scripts and told Tarantino he wanted to direct both movies. Tarantino told him he could only have one. Scott opted to make True Romance, the ultra-intense but sweet love story of two outcasts caught up in a massive coke deal gone wrong.
Tarantino earned the Writers Guild minimum of $30,000 for selling the script. He used the money to make his feature film directorial debut. "[Film] it in 12 days, $30,000, 16mm, black and white, you know, starring some friends, and I will have a movie made and finished," recalled Tarantino regarding his original plan.
Fascinating fact? - 6
Many Of The Actors Wore Their Own Clothes In The Film
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The simple black suits worn by the men in the film have become yet another oft-imitated signature feature of Reservoir Dogs. Since the movie's budget was a mere $1.5 million, the filmmakers had to be thrifty whenever they could.
As a result, many of the actors wore their own clothes in the movie.
Fascinating fact? - 7
The Music Is What Truly Disturbs Audiences In The Famous Ear-Cutting Scene
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The scene in which Mr. Blonde antagonizes and eventually slices off the ear of a young police officer was so disturbing many theaters reported audience members walking out. Quentin Tarantino claimed 33 people walked out of the theater at one film festival, including an early exit by one famous horror director: "Wes Craven walked out of my movie. The guy who did Last House on the Left walked out of my movie! I guess it was too tough for him."
The United Kingdom even banned the home video release of the movie for two years.
Most viewers will claim they witnessed the gory details, but the film never shows the details of the action - as the knife approaches the ear, the camera pans to a blank spot on the wall. What makes the scene so disturbing is its soundtrack: "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheel. Tarantino said of the choice:
That scene would not be as disturbing without that song because you hear that guitar strain, you get into it, you're tapping your toe, and you're enjoying Michael Madsen doing his dance and then - voom! - it's too late, you're [in on it].
Fascinating fact? - 8
Mr. Brown Was Wrong About Madonna's 'Like A Virgin'
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During the movie's unmistakable opening scene, which features most of the cast chitchatting about trivialities like how much to tip a waitress, Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino) waxed poetic on his thoughts behind Madonna's famous song, "Like a Virgin." Mr. Brown explained how he believed the song to be a metaphor for large male anatomy.
Madonna turned out to be a fan of Reservoir Dogs and asked to meet with the director. Of course, Tarantino asked whether or not he was right about his interpretation of her hit song. Of the interaction, he said:
I asked her, "Am I right about the song?" because I really believed that was the subtext.
She said, "No, it's about love, it's about a girl who's been messed over, and she finally meets this one man who loves her." She signed my Erotica album, "To Quentin. It's not about d*ck; it's about love. Madonna."
Fascinating fact? - 9
Filming In The Warehouse Was Intense
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Most of the film takes place in an abandoned warehouse, which serves as the meeting point for the boys following the score. The events in the warehouse unfold in real time. Unfortunately for the film's entire cast and crew, the production filmed during summertime in Los Angeles.
The warehouse had almost no ventilation. Michael Madsen's ear-cutting scene was especially difficult to film because the excessive heat had caused the prosthetic ear to melt.
Fascinating fact? - 10
Tim Roth's Dialect Coach Was On Set So Much, He Got A Cameo
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English actor Tim Roth had to master a Los Angeles dialect to play the role of Mr. Orange/Freddy. His dialect coach spent long stretches of time on the set and was rewarded with a cameo as the mark of a shooting.
Roth told Empire magazine, "We were very pleased about that."
Fascinating fact? - 11
Quentin Tarantino's First Directorial Instinct Was To Break The Rules
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Before Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino had little experience behind the camera. He attended a workshop for filmmakers at the Sundance Institute in 1991 to become a little less green. He recalled his thought process:
I wanted to experiment on my first scene with long takes. I didn't want to do coverage; I wanted to stream a bunch of long takes together and see how it would work. This was really the first time since I kind of got a little bit of sense about what I was doing that I had a camera bag in my hand again.
Many attendees at the institute criticized Tarantino for moving the camera so much, but other big-name directors at Sundance, such as Stanley Donen and Terry Gilliam, felt differently. Gilliam said, "The camera literally would not keep still. He was everywhere - down people's backs and up people's noses. It was just marvelous."
Tarantino thanked Gilliam for his encouragement in Reservoir Dogs's end credits.
Fascinating fact? - 12
Quentin Tarantino Came Up With The Idea For The Film While Working In A Video Store
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As many Quentin Tarantino fans know, the director worked in a video store before he made his first film. Having access to countless movies for six years was paramount in the director's self-taught cinema education.
Tarantino loved caper movies, inspiring him to write a screenplay in which the majority of the action takes place after - rather than before and during - the main event. He said of the decision:
When I worked at the video store, we had this one shelf that was like a revolving film festival, and every week I would change it - David Carradine week or Nicholas Ray week or swashbuckler movies. And one time I had [caper] films, like Rififi and Topkapi and The Thomas Crown Affair. I started taking them home and it was in the context of seeing [one of those] every night that I put my head 'round what a neat genre that would be to redo.
Fascinating fact? - 13
Quentin Tarantino Unapologetically Admitted To Copying Stanley Kubrick
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Quentin Tarantino has made a career out of paying homage to his favorite filmmakers. The cinephile-at-heart borrows from several different directors in Reservoir Dogs, most notably Stanley Kubrick and his 1956 film noir The Killing.
"I didn't go out of my way to [take from Kubrick's film], but I did think of it as my [version], my take on that kind of [genre] movie," Tarantino explained.
Reservoir Dogs uses a similar narrative style to Kubrick's script. Like many film noirs, Kubrick's is mainly told through the use of flashbacks. The main narrative difference between the films is Tarantino never shows the audience the actual event in Reservoir Dogs.
Fascinating fact? - 14
Quentin Tarantino Wanted The Music To Contrast The Action
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Quentin Tarantino has become famous for his ability to perfectly pair songs with his movies. For Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino decided to cast comedian Steven Wright as a 1970s radio DJ hosting his weekend show, K-Billy's Super Sounds of the '70s.
Tarantino opted to skip the hard-rock bands of the '70s in favor of a different sound:
I wanted to go for the super-sugary '70s bubblegum sound. One, because some people are annoyed by it and, two, because I grew up with it. The sugariness of it, the catchiness of it, really lightens up a rude, rough movie.
The soundtrack for Reservoir Dogs has become almost as famous as the movie. Besides "Stuck in the Middle," the soundtrack includes several other pop hits: "Hooked on a Feeling," "Little Green Bag," "Magic Carpet Ride," and "Harvest Moon." Despite this memorable grouping, the film doesn't have a musical score.
Fascinating fact? - 15
Quentin Tarantino Was Originally Going To Play Mr. Pink
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It's hard to imagine anyone other than Steve Buscemi playing the no-tipping, abrasive Mr. Pink. However, Quentin Tarantino originally thought he himself would be best for the role. Producer Lawrence Bender was also set to play Nice Guy Eddie, a part that eventually went to Chris Penn.
Interestingly, Mr. Pink's lengthy rant about why he doesn't think tipping servers is necessary was Tarantino's philosophy at the time.
Fascinating fact?
