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The Chip Board Archive 16

NCR: Way Too Much Reservoir Dogs Trivia
In Response To: Re: Hey Mr.Orange ()

File this under "Totally off-topic and more than you needed to know"... grin

Here's some Reservoir Dogs trivia from the Internet Movie Database website:

Quentin Tarantino wanted James Woods to play a role in the film, and made him five different cash offers. Woods' agent refused the offers without ever mentioning it to Woods as the sums offered were well below what Woods would usually receive. When Tarantino and Woods later met for the first time, Woods learned of the offer and was annoyed enough to get a new agent. Tarantino avoided telling Woods which role he was offered "because the actor who played the role was magnificent anyway". It is widely accepted that the role that Tarantino was referring to was Mr. Orange.

Tarantino originally wrote the role of Mr. Pink for himself.

Vincent Gallo turned down the role of Mr. Pink.

Terry Gilliam is thanked in the credits in gratitude for advice he gave to Tarantino during a Sundance workshop.

The "F" word is used 252 times.

In Mr. White's flashback, Joe asks him about a girl named Alabama. This is a reference to Patricia Arquette's character from True Romance (1993). Tarantino has stated that he originally intended this character to meet up with Mr White and to become partners in crime. When True Romance (1993) was released a year after Reservoir Dogs (1992) the ending was changed and so this backstory became inconsistent because Alabama never went on to meet up with Mr. White.

Steve Buscemi originally auditioned for the part of Mr. White.

David Duchovny auditioned for a part.

The first draft script called for Pink Floyd"s "Money" where "Little Green Bag" is now. It was later changed because Tarantino heard "Little Green Bag" over the radio and was extremely nostalgic.

Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) professes his dislike of automatically tipping waiting staff. Buscemi has a cameo appearance as a waiter in Pulp Fiction (1994).

Director Trademark: [Quentin Tarantino] [trunk] Before the audience sees the contents of Mr. Blonde's trunk, the camera looks up at Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, and Mr. Pink from inside the trunk.

Michael Madsen originally auditioned for the part of Mr Pink

Samuel L. Jackson auditioned for the role of Mr. Orange and didn't get the part. But Quentin Tarantino was so impressed by him he cast him in his next movie Pulp Fiction (1994).

Once Tim Roth was cast, Tarantino originally wanted him to play Mr. Blonde or Mr. Pink.

The final answer print of the film came back from the lab just 3 days before its world premiere at Sundance.

The title for the film comes from a combination of two other movies. Tarantino, not very good at speaking French, always referred to _Au revoir les enfants (1987)_ simply as "that Reservoir movie". He also is a big Sam Peckinpah fan, and likes his film Straw Dogs (1971). So he combined the two titles to get "Reservoir Dogs".

Armed with $30,000 and a 16mm camera, Quentin Tarantino was all set to make the film with a bunch of friends, including his producing partner Lawrence Bender who was going to play Nice Guy Eddie. It was then that Tarantino received an answerphone message from Harvey Keitel, asking if he could not only be in the film but help produce it. Keitel had gotten involved via the wife of Bender's acting class teacher, who had managed to get a copy of the script to him. Keitel's involvement helped raise the budget to $1.5 million.

Madonna - who is the main topic of the opening conversation - really liked the film but refuted Quentin Tarantino's interpretation of her song 'Like a Virgin'. She gave him a copy of her 'Erotica' album, signed "To Quentin. It's not about dick, it's about love. Madonna."

Robert Kurtzman did the special make-up effects on Reservoir Dogs (1992) for free, on the condition that Quentin Tarantino write a script for From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) based on a story by Kurtzman.

During filming, a paramedic was kept on the set to make sure that Mr. Orange's (Tim Roth) amount of blood loss was kept consistent and realistic to that of a real gunshot victim.

To avoid alienating the film's backers, producer Lawrence Bender had the tamer scenes shot first, so that the dailies would strengthen the backers' confidence before getting to the nasty, violent scenes.

Two scenes and a plot point were taken from Hong Kong director Ringo Lam's movie _Long hu feng yun (1987)_ , which stars Yun-Fat Chow and Danny Lee. Tarantino says it is one of his favorite films.

The criminals in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) also used colors to identify each other anonymously.

The black and white suit style worn in the film was taken from the John Woo film _Yinghung bunsik II (1987)_ .

A box of Fruit Brute cereal is visible in Mr. Orange's apartment. The box later appears in Pulp Fiction (1994).

Laurence Tierney says, "Dead as Dillinger" near the end of the film. He starred as John Dillinger in Dillinger (1945).

Mr Blonde's real name is Vic Vega. This is the same surname as Vince (John Travolta) from Tarantino's other film Pulp Fiction (1994). Tarantino revealed that not only are Vic and Vince brothers, but one day he may do a prequel about them called "The Vega Brothers".

It is revealed on the Ten Years Special Edition in one deleted scene that Mr. White's real name is Lawrence Dimmick. This is also Jimmie's last name in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Nina Siemaszko appears as McKlusky in a deleted scene.

Although he supposedly killed more people than any of the other characters did, Mr. Blonde is never seen killing anyone on-screen.

The warehouse where the majority of the movie takes place is full of coffins. Mr. Blonde doesn't sit down on a crate, it's actually an old hearse he perches on.

The actor who plays the lady that Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) shoots was Roth's dialect coach. Roth insisted that she take the role, as she was very hard on him.

In a deleted scene (available on the DVD), Nice Guy Eddie considers taking Mr. Orange to a nurse named Bonnie. 'Pulp Fiction (1994)' also features a nurse named Bonnie.

Directly prior to the scene showing the colored bottles of soap, you see two shirts hanging on the wall, and a rag in the distance on the floor. These are appropriately in sync with the surnames of the characters in their present states. Mr. White and Mr. Pink are upright and close to each other, corresponding to the two shirt colors, while the orange rag laying in the distance would be the position of Mr. Orange in the next room.

Christopher Walken was offered the role of Mr. Blonde, but turned it down.

The line where Mr. White tells Mr. Pink, "I need you cool. Are you cool?" was added into the script after a conflict between 'Laurence Tierney' and 'Michael Madsen' . To break the scuffle and continue shooting, Quentin Tarantino said to Laurence: "Larry. I need you cool. Are you cool?"

When the cop pleads for his life during the torture scene, he says that he has a child at home. This line was improvised by Kirk Baltz, and when he first said it, Michael Madsen (himself a new father at the time) was so disturbed by the idea of leaving a child fatherless that he couldn't finish the scene.

At several points, Tim Roth had lain in the pool of fake blood for so long that the blood dried out and he had to be peeled off the floor, which took several minutes.

The budget for the movie wasn't large enough to cover most of the costumes, so many of the clothes worn belonged to the actors themselves. For example, Mr. Pink's black jeans, Mr. Blond's black cowboy boots and Nice Guy Eddie's jacket.

Mr. Blonde's Cadillac Coup Deville actually belonged to actor Michael Madsen because the budget wasn't big enough to actually buy a car for the character.

The warehouse used in the film was previously a mortuary.

Mr. Pink's numerous references to being "professional" are a reference to movie director Howard Hawks, a favorite of Tarantino's.

WILHELM SCREAM: The famous scream is heard when Mr. Pink pushes a pedestrian on the sidewalk while being pursued by cops during his escape from the failed jewel heist.

Director Trademark: [Quentin Tarantino] [[long take]: While torturing the cop, we follow Mr. Blonde continuously from the warehouse to his car outside, back into the warehouse again.]

Mr. Orange's apartment was actually the upstairs to the warehouse where most of the movie takes place. The filmmakers redecorated it to look like an apartment in order to save money on finding a real apartment.

George Clooney read for the role of Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega but was turned down.

According to an interview on the DVD, Michael Madsen says that Kirk Baltz asked to ride in his trunk to experience what it was really like. Michael Madsen agreed, but decided as he went along that this was time for his own character development. So he apparently drove down a long alley with potholes, and then through a Taco Bell drive through before taking Baltz back to the parking lot and letting him out.

Michael Madsen had difficulty filming the torture scenes. He was particularly reluctant when he was required to hit actor Kirk Baltz.

Quentin Tarantino was considering using "Ballroom Blitz" by Sweet as alternate song for the "ear" scene, but went with Stealers Wheel "Stuck in the middle with you"

Tarantino avoids product-placement in his movies as much as possible. This is why anyone who smokes is smoking a pack of "Red Apples", a brand Tarantino made up. This is also why any cereal in his films (Fruit Brute, Kabooom!, etc.) are all brands that died out in the 1970s and no longer exist.

The film was released in America with almost no promotion, so it did not that well at the box office. In England however, it was such a huge hit that Tarantino would be mobbed as he walked down the street in London. British filmmakers have been "influenced" by it since.

The theatrical release of the film contains no female speaking parts. There are some in the 10th anniversary DVD.

Voted best independent film ever by Empire Magazine. It also was voted most influential movie in the past 15 years by the same magazine.

Robert Forster auditioned for the role of Joe Cabot.

Timothy Carey auditioned for the role of Joe Cabot. Tarantino didn't think he was right for the role, but later dedicated the film to Carey.

Chris Penn's blood squibs accidentally went off too early in the big stand-off scene, forcing him to fall to the floor. There is not, as is commonly believed, a mystery round being fired off-screen.

For the European release, the distributor used one sheet posters for each of the main characters. This was quite a novel strategy at the time, and has now become very widespread.

All the actors who portrayed the criminals have all spent time in jail at one time or another.

Kirk Baltz auditioned four times for the film.

Quentin Tarantino wrote the first draft in three and a half weeks.

The line Mr. White says to Victor Vega, "If your shoot me in a dream you better wake up and apologize" is a spin off of the Muhammad Ali quote, "If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize."

The suit Harvey Kitel was his own. It had been a specially made gift from French designer Agnès B.

This movie has no orchestral score. All the music you hear are prerecorded tracks.


WARNING: Here Be Spoilers

Trivia items below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.

SPOILER: The total death count in this film (onscreen and off) is 16. Four clerks in the jewelry store, five of the six crooks (Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, and Mr. Brown), Joe Cabot and his son Nice Guy Eddie, the two cops Mr. White shot, the cop in the trunk (Marvin Nash), the one cops Mr. Pink shot, the woman Mr. Orange shot, and the "black girl" Mr. Blonde shoots in the bank. Plus, it was never mentioned how many police Mr. Blonde had to shoot to escape the jewelry store. It can be assumed that Mr. Pink is not shot after he flees the warehouse; although you hear gunshots, he can be heard very faintly yelling something to the effect of "? give up" shortly thereafter.

SPOILER: According to Tarantino, Mr. Pink does in fact survive. You can verify this by increasing the volume of the background sounds: When Mr. Pink runs out of the building with the diamonds, police officers can be heard shouting at him to put his hands on the ground. Gunshots can be heard, then Mr. Pink shouts that he has been shot. You can then hear the officers talking to each other as Pink is arrested.

SPOILERS: In the scene where Nice Guy Eddie talks on his cell phone about the botched Robbery, an Orange balloon can be seen floating past the car. Some believe that this was intentional, as to foreshadow Mr. Orange as the rat. However, Quentin Tarantino claims that it was accidental.

SPOILER: When Mr. White and Mr. Pink are in the washroom talking about what went wrong with the job, there are seven bottles on the shelf behind them. One of them is filled with a white liquid, three of them are filled with pink liquid, and there are three of them filled with a orange liquid. The white and pink bottles are close together and the orange bottles are by themselves. During this time, Mr. Orange is passed out by himself is the other room.

SPOILER: According to cast member Edward Bunker, there was a scene that would have shown exactly what happened to his character, Mr. Blue but the scene was cut due to the limited budget. He also said actor Lawrence Tierney could never remember his lines, so Tierney's scenes took a while to shoot.

Messages In This Thread

David Spragg I got the half chip BUT.........
hey orange!....
Hey Mr.Orange
Re: Hey Mr.Orange
NCR: Way Too Much Reservoir Dogs Trivia
You can't be Mr. Black ... I am!! grin

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