Let’s be honest. When violent scenes and intersecting tales filled with attitude and sass collide, it results in one of the next two ways: The scenes are utterly epic, fuelling an ever-lasting craze, or take the “too cheesy” route of no return. For Quentin Tarantino’s classic 1994 film Pulp Fiction, the correct term to use is simply iconic.
Even 20+ years after its original screening, Pulp Fiction is deemed as one of the most important films in the history of cinema. Not many writers and directors have the chance of winning a Palme d’Or award for their second-ever film, but Tarantino’s non-linear stylized storytelling managed to make a total of total $9,311,882 during its first week of screening.
The Pulp Fiction Phenomenon
Following the intricate stories of characters played by Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, and Ving Rhames, the movie was soon nominated for seven Academy Awards and managed to bring home the Best Original Screenplay.
From then till now, myriads of Pulp-fiction-related releases have seen the light of day including ranges of striking red lipsticks to match Mia Wallace’s alluring look, comics, drawing, apparel, and everyone’s 90’s obsession, posters.
Both die-hard Pulp Fiction fans and critics have witnessed John Travolta’s career skyrocketing, as well as a completely different side of Bruce Willis. This sophisticated story of violent redemption arguably has a cult following to this day. Nonetheless, there are still plenty of things you might not know about Pulp Fiction.
Pulp Fiction Fun Secrets Facts You Probably Didn’t Know
Pulp Fiction was, to put it simply, a ferocious ride. The film revolves around the lives of the main characters, involving three interconnected stories that take place in modern-day Los Angeles. Socked in a familiar aesthetic shared by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Pulp Fiction managed to blend film noir with an exciting gangster-related tale and turned them into a modern-day plot.
Amongst the many fast-paced scenes and exhausting yet utterly fascinating constant twists, Pulp Fiction leads us to explore the multi-faceted human experience. The seemingly easy-to-understand Mexican standoffs and violent confrontations are, in fact, drenched in a deeper, more serious meaning filled with moments of rebirth and much-needed redemption.
However, it’s not all dark and corrupted. Go ahead and scroll through our list of the most fun secret facts about Pulp Fiction.
1. The film was released 4 months prior in other countries before it hit the US
Even though Pulp Fiction arrived in the US in September 1994, the first screening was during the Cannes Film Festival in May 1994. Tarantino’s movie was firstly released in Japan, Munich, Korea, and Slovakia before its first screening during the New York Film Festival. Even though there is no clear explanation as to why it is still a fun fact about Pulp Fiction’s history.
2. Pulp fiction includes 265 “F WORDS.”
Granted, compared to Reservoir Dogs’ 269 times, Pulp Fiction got outnumbered, however, this movie proudly holds the title of having the most “f-words”, outranking every movie released in 1994.
3. Honey Bunny is indeed a real-live rabbit.
As soon as the film starts, we get introduced to Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer), a burglar who, along with her partner, decided to rob a diner. These characters reappeared during the last segment. Not many are familiar with this fun fact about Pulp Fiction, but Honey Bunny is actually named after a real-life bunny. Linda Chen, who worked for Tarantino to complete his handwritten script, owned a pet bunny named, you guessed it, Honey Bunny.
Instead of payment, Tarantino was asked to take care of her rabbit when she went away on location. Tarantino refused, however, when later Chen’s rabbit died, he named the character after the pet.
4. Vincent’s 1964 Chevelle Malibu got stollen and reappeared two decades later
Arguably, one of the most iconic moments was the time we got to see John Travolta’s (aka Vincent) ride. This car was Tarantino’s and got stolen a few days after the release of the film. Two decades later, two police officers stopped two kids ridding a significantly old car. As soon as they run the Vehicle Identification Number, they figured out that this exact car shared the same number as an Oakland vehicle, which ended up belonging to Tarantino.
5. Pulp Fiction made back the actor’s salaries within a week
We’ve already mentioned that Pulp Fiction managed to make a total of total $9,311,882 during its first week of screening. However, the salary of every actor combined was $8,5 million in total. This pretty much means that the film made that money back in its first week at the U.S. box office.
6. It took a surprising amount of time to reach $100 in earnings
We all know that Pulp Fiction is one of the most prominent films to date, however, despite its popularity, it took the film 178 days before it managed to hit the $100 mark. To put this into perspective, The first Lord of the Rings movie by J. R. R. Tolkien, reached 72 million during the opening weekend.
7. Tarantino’s obsession with vintage board games
No one can really deny Tarantino’s love for vintage board games. In fact, he is a dedicated board game collector, which is pretty evident if you consider that Pulp Fiction features Operation and The Game of Life. It has been said that the filmmaker convinced Travolta to join him in an all-day-long Kotter, Welcome Back, Grease, and Saturday Night Fever board game marathon.
8. The original poster can be sold for up to $4,000
Let’s talk about all those original posters that used to adorn every bedroom wall during the 90s. These posters can bring you a huge amount of money. The first poster featured Uma Thurman smoking with a box of Lucky Strikes. However, the cigarette company hadn’t issued a license to use their products and quickly threatened them with legal action.
9. Tarantino wasn’t the only director of Pulp Fiction
Robert Rodriguez can be named as a co-director of the film. When Tarantino appeared on screen as Jimmie, he needed someone he could trust to be behind the camera. Robert Rodriguez took the offer. In fact, this collaboration was followed by an array of more projects, including From Dusk till Dawn and Grindhouse.
10. Mia’s stabbing
The famous scene when Vince stabs Mia with a syringe was shot in reverse with the use of a dummy needle. Later in post-production, the scene was reversed to appear like a real adrenaline shot.
11. Not all 420
Many die-hard fans noticed that all clocks in the movie show the time 4:20. However, this isn’t the case as many scenes feature clocks with many different times. Nonetheless, all the clocks at the pawnshop, indeed, show the time 4:20.
