John Travolta looks back at 'planetarily epic' Pulp Fiction on its 30th anniversary

John Travolta looks back at ‘planetarily epic’ Pulp Fiction on its 30th anniversary

John Travolta has reflected on the “planetarily epic” ‘Pulp Fiction’ three decades on from its release.

The 70-year-old actor experienced a career renaissance after portraying hitman Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film and recalled how audiences were key to the film’s slow-burn success.

Speaking to People at the 30th anniversary event in Hollywood on Thursday (18.04.24), John said: “It was epic and it evolved.

“The audiences made this movie what it was, and it wasn’t overnight. It took about a year of evolution. In those days, movies stayed in the theatres for over a year. So, by the end of the year of it being, it was planetarily epic.”

The ‘Grease’ star explained how the film “found” him as Tarantino was such a big admirer of his work.

Travolta – who was joined at the event by co-stars Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel – said: “I never had preconceived ideas of actually what I needed or should have, but it kind of found me more than I found it, because Quentin was such a die-hard fan of mine that he had this fantasy of working with me in something.

“It wasn’t necessarily ‘Pulp Fiction’. It could have been anything. And then, it suddenly found its way into that movie. After a couple of meetings when he said, ‘Maybe I won’t go this way. Maybe I’ll go the Travolta way.’ Because he had talked about ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’.”

Bruce Willis was absent from the event amid his ongoing battle with frontotemporal dementia and Travolta looks back with fond memories at his work with the ‘Die Hard’ star.

He told Entertainment Tonight: “Bruce and I had a history. We did ‘Look Who’s Talking’ together, and we had a massive success with it.

“So we were (friends). We had been on vacation together, Kelly (Preston, Travolta’s late wife) and I with Bruce and Demi (Moore). So this was not new. We were comfortable with each other.”

John added: “It was very easy to be with each other and relax, you know? And there was real genuine care. And we felt lucky we were in a very special movie.”