Quentin Tarantino Once Questioned if Steve Buscemi Was an Actor Because of His Performance

Quentin Tarantino first worked alongside veteran actor Steve Buscemi in his debut feature film Reservoir Dogs. But before the two linked up, Buscemi already left an unforgettable impression on Tarantino with his acting alone.

Steve Buscemi didn’t think Quentin Tarantino was the writer behind ‘Reservoir Dogs’ when he first talked to him

Buscemi was already one of Hollywood’s most prolific and versatile actors before starring in Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. He built up a nice career for himself in the mid to late-80s, and was maintaining momentum in the beginning of the 90s.

Tarantino, however, was a very small name in the world of cinema while Buscemi was reaching new heights in his career. Buscemi only first heard of the filmmaker when he was given the script for Reservoir Dogs. But the actor formed an impression of Tarantino based on the script that couldn’t have been further away from reality.

“I remember reading the script and thinking that it was written by somebody like Eddy Bunker, who is a real convict. When I first talked to Quentin on the phone, his voice sounded like, ‘Hiya man, how ya doin’? I’m glad you like the script – that’s really cool!’ And I thought this is not the guy who wrote this script. ‘Thanks a bunch, man!’ You know I don’t think he did that much research, in terms of researching criminals, he did it by watching other films,” Buscemi once told The Guardian.

Quentin Tarantino wasn’t sure Steve Buscemi was even an actor when he first saw his performance

Although Buscemi wasn’t too aware of Tarantino before Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino was already a fan of Buscemi. The Oscar-winner was even able to pinpoint the exact moment he was first introduced to Buscemi as an actor.

“I first became aware of Steve Buscemi’s work as the young man living with AIDS in the late Bill Sherwood’s Parting Glances. The memory of this too-cool-for-school New York underground rodent, sitting on his lover’s lap, silently saying, ‘I love you,’ as his hand comes up snatching the unsaid word out of the air, has stayed in my heart to this day,” Tarantino once recalled to Bomb.

Buscemi’s performances were so impressive to Tarantino, that Tarantino wasn’t sure he could classify it as acting.

“However, as much as I enjoyed his work, I didn’t expect to ever see him again. Actors in these underground movies aren’t often heard of again. I wasn’t even sure Steve Buscemi was an actor. His acting was so real. But in the real world, Buscemi was a former fireman, and is a current husband, father, and most definitely, an actor,” Tarantino said.

Hollywood didn’t hear the last of Buscemi, however.

“As a matter of fact, not only did he find work after Parting Glances, the guy works all the time! Most recently he surfaced in my friend Alex Rockwell’s In the Soup, and my own Reservoir Dogs, where, as the motormouth Mr. Pink, (a part I wrote for myself), he gives a performance that my executive producer, Monte Hellman, calls ‘flawless,'” Tarantino said.

How ‘Reservoir Dogs’ affected Steve Buscemi’s career

Buscemi saw his already promising career grow even further after appearing in Reservoir Dogs. The actor saw his stock in Hollywood rise, perhaps allowing him to star in more mainstream projects like Armageddon.

“I’d say that the film opened a lot of doors for me, especially leading to some more commercial work. It was the first time that the West Coast knew who I was, and I started to get parts in bigger films. It also allowed some other independent film-makers to cast me in larger roles, because of the success of the film,” Buscemi said.