Many would consider Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction a near-perfect film, and for Samuel L. Jackson, he actually got to see the process that helped it land its iconic status.
In an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Jackson has let fans in on an alternative version of the climactic restaurant scene where Jules faces off with Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer’s robbers, revealing that in the original script we’d have seen an imagined scene in which Jules kills them both before opening his eyes and making a much different choice.
“In the diner, when Tim Roth asks me to open that briefcase when I do it, I shoot him in the face and shoot Honeybunny off the counter,” said Jackson. “When I open my eyes, they’re still there because that’s what I would have done before [Jules] had transitioned.”
In a film that feels like a lesson in over-indulgence and bold decisions, it’s refreshing to hear that Tarantino scaled backed this scene and let the moment stand on its own. The scene is about Jackson’s Jules putting his newfound enlightenment to action and stopping the robbers before letting them go. We had already seen so much violence throughout Pulp Fiction that this little fantasy scene wouldn’t have added too much. Jackson’s acting alone sells the moment and helps the whole piece come to a solid conclusion on its own.
SEE ALSO: The Films Quentin Tarantino Wrote But Didn’t Direct
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