A-List: Actors Who Owe a Debt of Gratitude to Quentin Tarantino
By Josh Spiegel
August 20, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Even now, when some people could argue (in this case, some people equals me) that Tarantino has become something of a parody of himself, the actors in his films are usually given at least one or two scenes each to take the stage and do with that chance whatever they can. One thing is usually true, and doesn't appear to have changed with his latest film: Tarantino gives the role of scene-stealer, the opportunity to break out big, to just one person in each of his films. The early reviews are hailing Christoph Waltz, as a Nazi so feared he is called "The Jew Hunter," as the actor who will steal the spotlight from even uber-star Brad Pitt.
Whether the actor steals the movie out from under the rest of the usual ensemble, each of Tarantino's movies has an actor or two who was either saved from obscurity or had a career explosion after their appearance in his film. Some weren't very big explosions (the biggest role Zoe Bell, of Death Proof, had afterwards was on TV's Lost; if you don't remember, it's okay, as she's barely onscreen before jumping off the side of a freighter), but there are some actors who are forever indebted to the wily writer-director for casting them in his movies. This week's A-List, which does exclude Inglourious Basterds for obvious reasons, focuses on five of those actors, who ought to send Tarantino a royalty check every month.
John Travolta
Let's just start with the obvious pick. Sure, Travolta's career hadn't completely flopped by this point, if you consider being a mainstay in the Look Who's Talking franchise, but...no, there's no way to spin it positively. When Tarantino came calling with 1994's Pulp Fiction, so Travolta could play introspective hitman Vincent Vega, it was the smartest decision he ever made to accept the role. His turn as the longhaired Vega got him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor; moreover, it brought him far steadier and more prominent work. The following year, he played another twist on Vega, as Chili Palmer in Get Shorty. Some of his later work included Face/Off, Broken Arrow, and Primary Colors.
Certainly, Travolta's career has had some flops post-Tarantino (we're all thinking of Battlefield Earth, so let's just acknowledge its existence this one time and then try to forget it again), but whatever stardom he has now is completely in debt to the auteur who thought he'd be a good fit as a menacing tough. What's more, it's hard to imagine many other actors pulling off a serious-minded discussion of whether massaging a woman's feet is a serious bit of adultery. Of course, just because Travolta has had a burgeoning second wind in his career doesn't mean his movies have been great; even his next project, Old Dogs, where he and Robin Williams end up taking care of two children and...groan...wackiness ensues, looks immensely terrible. Still, whether as a scenery-chewing villain, a blowsy Baltimore matriarch, or a starstruck dog, Travolta is once again a star.
Steve Buscemi
The A-List has, in recent memory, taken a deeper look at the highs of Steve Buscemi's career, and it's hard to ignore the effect Quentin Tarantino had on it. Before 1992's Reservoir Dogs, Buscemi had starred in only a few films, most notably as Chet in Barton Fink. However, it was his fast-talking, frustrated Mr. Pink that got a lot of attention from audience members. As the only character in the film (spoiler alert!) to not get killed onscreen — though you don't have to have perfect hearing to know that his fate is as bloody as everyone else's — Mr. Pink tries and tries to have a clear head and calm demeanor, but there's too much craziness going on for him to stay relaxed. Buscemi's career as actor and director has boomed since then; though he appeared in more films by the Coen Brothers, it's clear that he owes a debt to Tarantino for a standout role amongst a large and talented ensemble. Mr. Pink isn't very likable (just tip the waitress, man!), but he is fascinating to watch, as are the rest of the Reservoir Dogs.
Samuel L. Jackson
Jackson, like Travolta, was a working actor by the time he played the iconic role of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction. Unlike Travolta, he had never been a star; until this sprawling crime drama, Jackson had appeared in some Spike Lee movies and, most well-known, in Jurassic Park, as a smart techie who ends up on the wrong end of a dinosaur. It was, however, Jules Winnfield that made Jackson's career. In the following years, Jackson starred in the third Die Hard film with his Pulp Fiction co-star Bruce Willis, Shaft, Unbreakable, and even appeared in the newer Star Wars trilogy as Jedi master Mace Windu.
Though the majority of his career since Pulp Fiction has been strong, it's also easy to tell that some of his roles require him (or he assumes they require him) to act...well, kind of like Jules Winnfield. Or, at the very least, he acts like the badass Jules, the character before his epiphany at the end of the film. If it hadn't been for Tarantino, Jackson would have continued working steadily, but there's no telling if his star power would have risen at all; the role in Pulp Fiction garnered him an Academy Award nomination, one he shamefully lost out on. Nowadays, Jackson can be seen as Nick Fury in any slew of Marvel superhero movies, but he'll always be Jules Winnfield for many, thanks to Tarantino.
Robert Forster
An actor who had forever toiled in B-movies, Robert Forster was pegged to star alongside blaxploitation actress Pam Grier, Robert De Niro, and Samuel L. Jackson in 1997's Jackie Brown, Tarantino's sole film that isn't based on an original work. Jackie Brown is based on the novel Rum Punch, by famed novelist Elmore Leonard. Forster plays Max Cherry, a bail bondsman attracted to Grier's title character. Forster, partly due to the great comeback story, wound up with an Academy Award nomination as Cherry, and found himself working in movies such as Psycho, Like Mike, and Me, Myself, & Irene. No, Forster's career isn't the biggest nor the best, but the amount of work he got for his humanistic portrayal is impressive, and all thanks to Tarantino.
David Carradine
This late actor had been, for the longest time, known only for his role on Kung Fu, a cheesy TV show that Tarantino had previously shown affinity for in his other work (in Pulp Fiction, for example, Jules says he plans to "walk the earth" just like Caine from the TV series). With the Kill Bill films, though, Tarantino decided he was just right as the malevolent, psychopathic murderer who sets off the wrong woman, his ex-bride, on a path to revenge. Though Carradine's career didn't soar as much as some of the others, he worked on projects as diverse as TV's Charmed, Crank 2, and even a Jonas Brothers music video. His final days may color the man's career a bit differently, but Quentin Tarantino (and Warren Beatty, the actor originally slated to play Bill) helped Carradine's career out with a life raft for the popular, if overrated, Kill Bill movies.