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Pulp Fiction wasn’t a guaranteed success. The movie is now considered one of the best movies of all time. It has a substantial impact on both filmmaking and popular culture. Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino once thought that the movie was a bit too different for audiences to enjoy. He would later discover that he was very wrong about that initial thought. Tarantino once said that only one fellow director believed in Pulp Fiction before its release.

Quentin Tarantino showed ‘Pulp Fiction’ to his director friends

'Pulp Fiction' filmmaker Quentin Tarantino with the Golden palm waving
Quentin Tarantino | Pool BENAINOUS/DUCLOS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Robert Rodriguez interviewed Tarantino on the El Rey Network. Tarantino hosted a Pulp Fiction for his director friends to give feedback on the movie. Rodriguez wasn’t able to attend, but they reflected on how the screening went. Tarantino was unsure about the final product. Additionally, his director friends didn’t seem very thrilled about it.

However, a similar situation happened with George Lucas’ Star Wars. Steven Spielberg was the only director to see the movie for what it could be. As a result, Rodriguez referred to Pulp Fiction as Tarantino’s Star Wars. Both movies weren’t believed in until the world proved them wrong. Tarantino is now able to look back on the situation and laugh at it in interviews.

Only one director believed in ‘Pulp Fiction’ from the start

Rodriguez asked Tarantino on the El Rey Network more in-depth questions about the director screening. Rodriguez called around and their reactions weren’t very positive. However, he asked Tarantino if any of his fellow filmmakers at the screening believed in the project. Tarantino responded that the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind The Hurt Locker absolutely adored the project.

“Kathryn Bigelow,” Tarantino answered. “Absolutely positively. She was the biggest fan. She went nuts for Reservoir Dogs at Telluride. I had always been a fan of hers, so you hooked me up with her…She wanted to put John Travolta in Strange Days after seeing that movie.”

Bigelow loved the movie so much that she hosted a screening of her own. She showed the movie to the Aliens filmmaker James Cameron, among some other special guests. Tarantino expressed how excited Bigelow was to have the opportunity to show an audience Pulp Fiction.

“She screened it for Jim Cameron,” Tarantino recalled. “And apparently when she screened the movie, she was like, ‘Guys, you’re in for a treat. You don’t even know what you’re going to see. You don’t even know what you’re going to see. But, I know what you’re going to see and I can’t wait to watch it with you guys.’ Nobody else was saying that after my little director screening with my friends.”

Quentin Tarantino showed his director friends wrong

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Pulp Fiction went on to play at the Cannes Film Festival. It earned the highest honor, also known as the Palme d’Or. One of his director friends from the screening called Tarantino after to congratulate him. They acknowledged that they were completely in the wrong for doubting the movie.

“There was even one of them that was planning on, ‘OK, I’m going to have to have a hard talk with Quentin,'” Tarantino said on the El Rey Network. “‘But I’ll wait until he comes back from Cannes.’ I win the Palme d’Or and they left a message like, ‘Well, I was actually going to get a little tough with you, and I guess we can forget that (laugh). What the hell do I I know?’”

Pulp Fiction even scored an Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Tarantino certainly proved that room full of director friends wrong.

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