Quentin Tarantino's First Draft Of Pulp Fiction Was Long Enough To Be A Novel

Quentin Tarantino is a loquacious man. Since he hit the big time with "Pulp Fiction" in 1994, he has been a regular and willing presence on talk shows, even when he doesn't have anything new to promote. He drops by many of the most popular podcasts, and, unsurprisingly, launched one of his own, The Video Archives Podcast, where he gabs at length with his director buddy and former video store co-worker Roger Avary. He just doesn't seem to have an "off" switch, which makes it very difficult to believe he's going to stick to his word and retire from filmmaking after completing his next, as-yet-unannounced movie.

Evidently, Tarantino writes like he talks: fast and spontaneously. He generated so much material for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" that he novelized his own screenplay so he could include the excised details. This has always been his way, and it sounds both exhausting and fascinating, particularly in the case of "Pulp Fiction."

In a 2021 interview with John Phipps for GQ, Tarantino shed a little light on his writing process, which, according to him, results in a "ridiculously overwritten" first draft. "I'm just letting it rip," he said. How "overwritten?" His first go at "Pulp Fiction" was 500 pages. He acknowledged that his spelling is awful and that his handwriting is illegible because he writes longhand at first. But he gets away with it because he's only writing for himself at this point. And if this sounds excessive, imagine what the first version of "True Romance," which was 500 pages heading into the third act, was like before he started pruning.

Now that Tarantino has opened the door to novelizations, is there a possibility for expansions of his other films (save for "Jackie Brown," which was based on Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch")? Tarantino told Phipps he has no interest in doing this with "Pulp Fiction," but what about that hypothetical sequel to "Kill Bill" centered on Vernita Green's daughter, Nikki? Or his unmade "Star Trek" pitch, which was fleshed out into a screenplay by "The Revenant" writer Mark L. Smith?

Or what about the holy grail for many old-school Tarantino heads, "The Vega Brothers," which would deal with the origins of Victor and Vincent Vega, the hitmen brothers played by Michael Madsen and John Travolta in, respectively, "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction?" Given that Madsen and Travolta are way too far along to reprise their roles, this feels like the ideal grist for a novelization. There's no need to adjust to new actors trying to recapture the magic of those performances. You can watch the movie in your head with Madsen and Travolta.

No one knows what the future holds for QT as he prepares to turn 60 this month, but at a certain point, this won't be a question of will, but age. The man has two young children vying for his attention nowadays. That "off" switch has to look awfully tempting.