Breaking an antique item that changed the future of cinema.
Defending the legacy of someone iconic. Being a victim of a near-fatal car crash.
These are just a few of the challenges the stars of Quentin Tarantino's iconic
filmography have had to overcome while filming. Keep watching to find out!
Quentin Tarantino's 2015 film, The Hateful Eight, shares a number of similarities with
his debut feature, Reservoir Dogs. One major detail both films share is that,
for the most part, they each take place in one location. Reservoir Dogs sees a group of strangers
confined to a warehouse, while The Hateful Eight places the characters in a stagecoach lodge.
While one might imagine that a movie taking place indoors for the majority of its runtime
would be relatively straightforward to film, that was absolutely not the case for The Hateful Eight.
As revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, Tarantino demanded
an authentic environment. Rather than shooting the interior shots in a studio,
the director instead chose to place his cast in Colorado's sub-zero temperatures for 10 weeks
starting in January. Once inside the lodge, the director would reportedly keep the single room
at a 35-degree temperature to keep the performances — and the shivering — realistic.
Actor Walton Goggins, revealed that it was so cold, the cast and crew would squeeze themselves
under the set lights for warmth. Thankfully, the grueling time on set led the film's stars to bond,
and ultimately look forward to the end result. Samuel L. Jackson mentioned to Collider,
"We were miserable in the environment. You could see our breath,
but the stuff that we were doing was amazing." Set in post-Civil War Wyoming, The Hateful Eight
follows eight strangers cooped up in a stagecoach lodge while they wait for a blizzard to subside.
Among the strangers is bounty hunter John "The Hangman" Ruth, played by Kurt Russell,
and his prisoner, Daisy Domergue , played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Unfortunately, the duo found themselves in a scene with painful real-life consequences.
At one point in the film, Domergue sits in the lodge and plays a guitar, but her moment
of peace is swiftly interrupted by Ruth snatching it away and smashing it to bits right next to her.
"Music time's over."
"What? Hey! Woah, woah, woah."
If you pay attention to Leigh's reaction in the scene, you'll see a look of sheer
panic — and she wasn't hamming it up for the camera. As Russell came to find out, the guitar
he smashed was a genuine antique from the 19th century, borrowed from the Martin Guitar Museum.
According to the film's sound mixer, Mark Ulano, Russell was supposed to grab the guitar
and wait for the scene to cut while crew members exchanged the priceless instrument for a double.
According to Business Insider, these details were not adequately explained to the actor.
The museum director was horrified at the destruction of the piece,
and although he was reimbursed for the damages, he declared that the company
wouldn't be loaning out their guitars to film sets anymore. In 2016, Leigh told
Billboard that Russell felt so bad about the mixup, he almost cried when he found out.
For anyone who's seen 1992's Reservoir Dogs, it's almost impossible to listen to the Stealers Wheel
hit "Stuck in the Middle with You" without immediately thinking of Michael Madsen's
Mr. Blonde grooving to the beat while mutilating a police officer.
Although Madsen nailed the part of the psychopathic Mr. Blonde,
he initially never saw his character as the villain. Instead,
he figured the audience would appreciate him hurting a cop in a movie where all the
protagonists were criminals. That is, until he learned one particular detail about the officer.
According to Tarantino, during rehearsals, the director himself played the role of the
tortured police officer. At one point, while in character, he blurted out that he had a child.
Madsen, who had recently had a son, felt immediate discomfort.
Knowing his character was supposed to torture a father changed his entire perception of the scene.
Madsen said he was also intimidated to shoot his deranged dance, and almost refused to do it.
While Madsen admits that Reservoir Dogs was important in launching his career,
he believes his now-iconic role as Mr. Blonde ruined his chances
of showing his acting range in the years to come. He told The Hollywood Reporter,
"Unfortunately, it typecasted me as a bad guy. I would prefer to be a leading man."
Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman was once one of Quentin Tarantino's most frequent collaborators.
The pair had such a professional love for one another that Tarantino called Thurman his "muse"
in a 2004 interview with Rolling Stone. While Tarantino was quick to gush about
his leading lady in public, things weren't exactly as they seemed behind the scenes.
As it turns out, during the filming of Kill Bill, Tarantino put Thurman in an incredibly
dicey situation, which she didn't speak out about until 2018. In a shocking interview with the New
York Times, Thurman detailed a story about a scene that saw her driving a convertible.
An issue arose after Thurman spoke to one of the crew members, who suggested the car might be
unsafe to drive. She told Tarantino she wanted a stunt person to do it. She explained to The Times,
"Quentin came in my trailer and didn't like to hear no … he was furious."
Thurman ultimately cooperated, but the scene nearly cost her her life. In footage of the
incident that she published on her Instagram, Thurman loses control of the vehicle and smashes
into a tree. The accident damaged both her neck and her knees and led to a massive
argument with Tarantino. The duo settled their differences years later, with Tarantino
finally giving Thurman the footage to share with the public. For years leading
up to this dispute, he'd had it covered up by disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein.
After Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood came out in 2019, Quentin Tarantino's long-anticipated ninth
feature film was met with immediate backlash due to the depiction of martial arts legend
Bruce Lee on camera. During one scene, Lee, played by Mike Moh boasts that he could beat
Cassius Clay in a fight, leading Brad Pitt's character, Cliff Booth, to laughingly disagree.
An enraged Lee challenges Booth to a fight, which ends with each
man getting knocked down over the course of two rounds before someone else intervenes.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Bruce Lee's family considered his depiction in the film a
"mockery." Interestingly enough, if Tarantino had it his way, that "mockery" would have gotten much
worse. According to a Huffington Post interview with stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo, the original
script saw Booth winning a third round against Lee, which didn't sit well with the cast and crew,
including Brad Pitt. Alonzo explained that Pitt voiced his discomfort with the scene,
adding that it was actually thanks to the actor's insistence that Tarantino changed the outcome.
According to Moh, Tarantino didn't mean any disrespect by Lee's portrayal. In fact,
Moh confirmed that the director was a big fan of Lee's work. He elaborated that at Moh's audition,
the pair spoke about the martial arts icon for a solid half-hour.
Quentin Tarantino's 2012 spaghetti western, Django Unchained, was met with widespread
criticism after its release. Critics blasted the flick for its jarring depictions of slavery a
few years before the Civil War, countless racial slurs, and its abundant violence.
The film depicts ​​Django, a freed slave played by Jamie Foxx, and German bounty hunter Dr. King
Schultz, played by Christoph Waltz, as they travel through the South hunting criminals.
Ultimately, the pair's journey leads them to try to rescue Django's wife, Broomhilda,
played by Kerry Washington, from a plantation where she's held captive.
In an interview with IndieWire, Washington revealed her initial hesitation to participate
in the movie due to the brutal on-screen torture her character is subject to. She explained,
"I was scared about the places I had to go emotionally and psychologically as an artist."
Thankfully, she and Foxx had previously worked together in the biopic Ray,
and the actors were able to lean on one another throughout the taxing shoot.
Washington even recalled telling her costar,
"If this movie goes on for one week longer, I'm not going to survive it."
Ultimately, Washington persevered, even snagging a Best Actress award
from BET . However, it wasn't easy. Washington told IndieWire that at one point during filming,
her parents and manager came to set to support her,
and one of the first things Washington did after returning home was call her therapist.
Kerry Washington wasn't the only actor who had difficulty filming Django Unchained.
While Tarantino, who was born in the South, told NPR that he considered the film "a
cultural catharsis," filming was difficult for a number of the A-listers involved.
Among them was Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays despicable plantation owner Calvin Candie.
The actor revealed how difficult he found portraying the inhumane character
in a chat with the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.
"It was actually, uh, took a long time to adjust to. You never
quite felt comfortable, but that's part of what we do. Ya know?"
DiCaprio elaborated that his co-stars were supportive. He acknowledged that, in particular,
Jamie Foxx offered up his own encouragement whenever Candie did something horrific.
And while Foxx had a somewhat gentle approach to soothing DiCaprio's nerves, fellow co-star
Samuel L. Jackson had a much more blunt way of supporting the actor. Foxx told IndieWire that
one day Jackson outright told DiCaprio to "get over it." Reportedly, Jackson's words stuck with
DiCaprio to the point where, when he came back to set the next day, he was completely in character.
1997's Jackie Brown is Quentin Tarantino's most subtle film. While the director is usually known
for over-the-top flashiness in his visuals and dialogue, Jackie Brown takes a reserved approach,
forgoing experimental camerawork and choosing to tell a more gentle, human story. The film's
protagonist is Jackie Brown, played by Pam Grier, a flight attendant who smuggles cash
for her gunrunner boss, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Once the police catch her, they demand
she cooperate with them. However, the plucky lead has a plan to keep the cash for herself.
Filming such an understated Tarantino film may sound easier than partaking in one of his more
violent epics, but that doesn't mean there wasn't at least one uncomfortable moment on set.
As Grier revealed to PeopleTV's Couchsurfing, one scene of the crime flick sees her character
holding a gun to Jackson's nether regions. However, insurance policies would not allow Grier
to use a weapon during rehearsals. Grier told CinemaBlend she had to use her own hand instead.
Unsurprisingly, this led to some awkward interactions between the actors,
and some accidental grazing of Jackson's groin. After these uncomfortable moments passed,
Grier assured her costar that she'd be a lot more confident when the time came to use an
actual weapon. Anyone who has seen the film will know she absolutely delivered on that front.
The late, great Lawrence Tierney was already a Hollywood staple by the time
he starred in Reservoir Dogs. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tierney earned his
acting stripes being typecast as a villain, usually portraying mafiosos and thieves.
Reportedly, his off-camera persona wasn't particularly warm, either.
As the actor's star power grew, he became increasingly more temperamental.
As Tarantino told The Guardian, when he cast Tierney as crime boss Joe Cabot in 1992,
his first few weeks of shooting were pure torture. Tarantino, who's certainly not renowned for his
etiquette on set, went so far as to call Tierney "a complete lunatic." When filming for Reservoir
Dogs began, the director opted to shoot Tierney's scenes in the first week. After a stressful week
of filming, the actor and director's conflict came to a violent head. Tarantino explained,
"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 blow out and got into a fist fight. I
fired him, and the whole crew burst into applause."
Although the then-newbie director thought that getting rid of Tierney would ruin his chances
at a big break in Hollywood, he fortunately had the movie's biggest star on his side.
Harvey Keitel assured the studio that everything would turn out fine, and the rest is history.
Uma Thurman and John Travolta's dance scene in Pulp Fiction remains one of the most
iconic moments in '90s cinema. As explained by The Daily Beast,
the scene was inspired by Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 classic Bande à part. Reportedly, Tarantino
has always been inspired by the way Godard incorporated music and dance into his films.
Most of the scene was improvised, and Travolta didn't seem to have many issues with it,
but the same can't be said of Thurman, despite her character's onscreen enthusiasm:
"Now I wanna dance. I wanna win. I want that trophy. So dance good."
Therman told Variety,
"I was more afraid of the dancing than almost
anything because it was exactly to my total insecurity."
Thurman credited her youth and lanky build as the culprits behind her timidity. Thankfully,
she added, once the dancing actually began, she adored the experience.
In a funny and heartfelt moment at the 2022 Academy Awards,
Thurman and Travolta took the stage alongside Samuel L. Jackson to celebrate the film's 28th
anniversary. The two actors briefly recreated their legendary dance, with Thurman quipping,
"Maybe later we'll have a $5 milkshake."
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