15 Behind-The-Scenes Stories From 'Reservoir Dogs' That Are As Intense As The Movie Itself

In a true act of kismet, the wife of producer Lawrence Bender's acting coach was acquainted with actor Harvey Keitel. The legendary actor was handed the script for Reservoir Dogs and loved it. Quentin Tarantino describes the first time he spoke with Keitel, "He just called us up three days later and said, 'Look, consider me in. Not only do I want to do it, I want to be one of the producers. I want to help get it made. Whatever I can do, let me know.'" 

Tarantino was a fan of Keitel, and he was more than willing to cast him in his directorial debut. The film's budget went from $30,000 to around $1.5 million because of Keitel's commitment to the movie. He also contributed some of his personal funds to help finance the picture, even flying the production crew to New York to find more actors. This trip secured Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen.

Veteran character actor Lawrence Tierney, who played his fair share of goons on the big screen, was cast to play caper organizer and leader Joe Cabot. Unfortunately for Quentin Tarantino, this casting decision almost ruined his directing career in its first week. He said of the actor:

Tierney was a complete lunatic by that time - he just needed to be sedated. We had decided to [film] his scenes first, so my first week of directing was talking with this f*cking [guy]... By the end of the week, everybody on set hated Tierney - it wasn't just me. And in the last 20 minutes of the first week, we had a blowout and got into a [fight]. I fired him, and the whole crew burst into applause.

Tarantino has Harvey Keitel to thank for possibly saving his career. The actor stepped up and talked to the studio in defense of the director.

While filming Reservoir Dogs, Michael Madsen drove a yellow Cadillac. For one scene, the production planned to rent a car for Mr. Blonde; however, the idea struck Madsen as unnecessary. The actor recalled, "[My car] was in the parking lot right outside the warehouse where we were [filming]. They were gonna go to Budget Rent-a-Car and get a car for Mr. Blonde."

Madsen ended up saying to the producers, "Wait, wait, wait... let's use my car!"

Michael Madsen didn't rehearse the ear-cutting scene and felt intimidated by it: "In the script it said, 'Mr. Blonde maniacally dances around,' and I kept thinking, 'What the f*ck does that mean? Mick Jagger?'" Madsen stated he also felt uncomfortable acting out the intense scene because he had a small child at the time.

What's more, the young cop in the film begs Mr. Blonde for his life by telling him he's a father with young kids. Madsen was finally able to push aside his issues and draw his dance inspiration from an unlikely source: "I started thinking about this weird little thing Jimmy Cagney did in a movie that I saw, that's where it came from."

Before Quentin Tarantino became a director, he was a writer. In 1991, he worked his way onto the set of Tony Scott's film, The Last Boy Scout, and handed the director two finished scripts. One was for Reservoir Dogs and True Romance was the other. Scott read the two scripts and told Tarantino he wanted to direct both movies. Tarantino told him he could only have one. Scott opted to make True Romance, the ultra-intense but sweet love story of two outcasts caught up in a massive coke deal gone wrong.

Tarantino earned the Writers Guild minimum of $30,000 for selling the script. He used the money to make his feature film directorial debut. "[Film] it in 12 days, $30,000, 16mm, black and white, you know, starring some friends, and I will have a movie made and finished," recalled Tarantino regarding his original plan. 

The simple black suits worn by the men in the film have become yet another oft-imitated signature feature of Reservoir Dogs. Since the movie's budget was a mere $1.5 million, the filmmakers had to be thrifty whenever they could.

As a result, many of the actors wore their own clothes in the movie.