Originally published at: Tarantino talks about Laurence Fishburne turning down the role of Jules in Pulp Fiction | Boing Boing
…
7 Likes
Mind blown.
Maybe the internet can deep fake this back into existence?
Better, Sam Jackson de-aged and deepfaked into being Cowboy Curtis on Pee Wee’s Playouse.
7 Likes
I want to hear Mr. Fishburne’s version of this story.
Mr. Tarantino is not exactly a “reliable narrator.”
14 Likes
Well I can’t possibly imagine someone other than Samuel L Jackson in that iconic role, but I do love me some Laurence Fishburne! Event Horizon is one of his underrated gems he stars in.
5 Likes
WOW, that’s a pretty cool story (not for Laurence Fishburne tho), and I really like that Tarantino points out that it was technically a good move on Fishburne’s part for where both Tarantino and Fishburne were in their careers, but like Will Smith turning down the role of Neo from The Matrix, I wonder if Laurence Fishburne comes back to this choice as one of the “Could’a-Should’a-Would’a” moments. More than likely turning down Jules in Pulp Fiction is one of a series of roles that could’ve been but weren’t for Laurence Fishburne.
1 Like
With stories like these I do wonder what the result would have been (Lee Marvin as Quint in “Jaws” for example) but most of the time I think it wouldn’t have been better than what we got. However I could see Laurence Fishburne nailing this role, no problem.
(It also makes me consider movies that don’t work too well, and wonder what actors turned down roles in it, and whether they could have made a difference.)
1 Like
Cowboy Curtis was actually Morpheus doing recon work in an earlier iteration of The Matrix. He later stole the source code from Pee-Wee’s front door to make his favorite chair.
19 Likes
Probably wouldn’t have mattered to this guy.
But what about Arnold Schwarzenegger in “I Am Legend”?
I recall reading an interview with Arnold at one point and he said there’s some test footage out there of him in the role. Hyperbole or not, hell, I’d pay to see that over some of the crap Hollywood puts out these days…
That would be interesting!
Also, not being in “the biz” it’s weird to me to think of Jules as being a “supporting role” for Travolta’s character. Maybe it’s all in how he played it, but I’ve always thought of Jules as one of the main characters in that film. 
6 Likes
He is the one out of that duo that survived.
5 Likes
Reminds me of how Humprey Bogart became a star by taking a roll that George Raft turned down " The Maltese Falcon" and Bogart became the bigger star.
1 Like
Oh. My. God.
Also, Paul Reubens as one of the people fighting the Matrix also weirdly checks out.
2 Likes
Architect: I am the Architect. I created the Matrix. I’ve been waiting for you. You have many questions, and although the process has altered your consciousness, you remain irrevocably human. Ergo, some of my answers you will understand, and some of them you will not. Concordantly, while your first question may be the most pertinent, you may or may not realize it is also irrelevant.
Pee Wee: I know you are, but what am I?
2 Likes
And it’s the same answer on every single screen except one, where “human” is the word of the day.
My god, Pee Wee is The One!
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
