Actors who return to Tarantino’s cinema often find themselves playing characters who occupy different positions within the story. A performer may hold authority in one film and depend on other people’s decisions in the next. Comparing those roles makes it possible to notice changes that a list of appearances leaves out: who needs help, who sets the terms, and what happens when they lose control.
Continuity in the cast runs across films of different genres and periods. The same face can seem familiar in a contemporary crime story and later appear in a western. That familiarity shapes the first impression, but each character still needs to establish their own relationships. Recognising the actor allows their work to be compared; the links between fictional figures require the story itself for context.
The weight of a part also changes. A role may carry the whole film, form part of a leading pair, or appear in a brief episode. Duration alone explains little: a supporting character may resolve a problem that occupies the leads, or introduce a difficulty that changes the rest of the story.
Cannes credits in Pulp Fiction performers who returned to work with Tarantino, including Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman. Their later collaborations allow for comparison of more than the persistence of certain names: the characters change, the cast they interact with changes, and so does their place in the conflict.
Roles that alter the relationship with power
Christoph Waltz plays Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds and King Schultz in Django Unchained, according to Cannes and Sony credits. Landa uses conversation to investigate and subdue those he questions. Schultz puts his negotiating ability at the service of an alliance with Django. Courtesy has different effects: in one case it prolongs a threat; in the other it makes it possible to negotiate access to a place or put a deal on the table.
Leonardo DiCaprio moves from plantation owner Calvin Candie, in Django Unchained, to actor Rick Dalton, in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Sony identifies both roles. Candie expects visitors to adapt to his conditions; Rick needs to convince others that he can still do a job. The difference is visible in their relationship to approval: one has people bound to please him, while the other depends on casting decisions he does not control.
The BFI credits Samuel L. Jackson as Ordell Robbie in Jackie Brown. Sony identifies him as Stephen in Django Unchained. Ordell tries to protect a criminal business; Stephen watches what happens inside Candie’s house. Their ways of exerting influence depend on different positions. The first gives orders as the person running an operation; the second knows how a house works and uses that knowledge to intervene in it.
Keitel and Madsen’s experience in different characters
Harvey Keitel plays Mr. White in Reservoir Dogs, as listed in the AFI catalogue, and Mr. Wolf in Pulp Fiction. White becomes involved in protecting an injured colleague and compromises his judgement in that relationship. Mr. Wolf arrives to sort out a practical problem. Both speak from a position of experience, but White’s emotional involvement changes an authority that Mr. Wolf can exercise with greater distance.
Michael Madsen plays Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs and Budd in Kill Bill Vol. 2; AFI and Cannes list those credits. Blonde turns his calm into a threat to others. Budd is tied to a violent past that weighs on his present situation. The performer’s familiarity makes it possible to compare two ways of introducing danger, without the resemblance of certain gestures creating a shared identity between the characters.
From the centre of the story to ensemble work
Uma Thurman occupies very different places as Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction and as the Bride in Kill Bill. Mia carries much of an episode through her relationship with Vincent. The Bride’s quest sustains both volumes and structures the encounters with her adversaries. The change in scale requires emotional continuity through far more varied situations. The cast preparation and actor direction develop the working choices that make each role possible.
Cannes identifies Brad Pitt as Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds; Sony credits him as Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Aldo leads a group of soldiers and must get them to act under his orders. Cliff works as Rick Dalton’s stunt double and shares much of his routine with him. The position within the pair or group changes what the character needs to resolve, even if both roles draw on the performer’s physical presence.
Tim Roth appears again in The Hateful Eight as Oswaldo Mobray, according to the BFI, after playing Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs. Orange spends much of the story immobilised by a wound; Mobray takes part in the conversations of the group gathered at Minnie’s. The possibilities for intervening in the scene change. The recurring cast allows these differences to be followed within the films of Quentin Tarantino, without reducing each return to a repetition of the earlier work.
Counting collaborations requires deciding what is being counted. An on-screen appearance, a voice role and stunt work are different forms of participation. Credits allow the function to be identified, while the length of a scene helps describe the scope of the role. Bringing all those tasks together into a single figure can hide useful differences.
Kill Bill raises another question: its story was released in two volumes. A filmography can list each part separately, while a description of the collaboration treats the project as a whole. The comparison is clearer when it keeps the same criterion for everyone and states in which instalment each role appears.
The body of works chosen also changes the result. Taking part in a film written by Tarantino and directed by another filmmaker belongs to a different professional relationship. Defining the films he directed, the scripts for other directors and the productions makes it possible to locate each credit without attributing to Tarantino the direction of all the works associated with his name.