Anna Daniels
Once upon a time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino had dreams of combining the worlds of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction into The Vega Brothers. Michael Madsen‘s character in Reservoir Dogs and John Travolta‘s character in Pulp Fiction both had the same last name – Vega – and Tarantino very much wanted to team the two actors up for a prequel movie (it would have to be a prequel, since both Vega Brothers die in their respective films). Alas, it never came to be. Tarantino has dropped tidbits about the abandoned project over the years, and now Michael Madsen has offered up even more details.
Back when Quentin Tarantino was starting to develop Inglourious Basterds, he got an idea to make a movie about the Vega brothers – Vincent (John Travolta) and Vic (Michael Madson). But as the years progressed, the project became less and less likely, primarily due to the ages of his two potential leading men. In 2007, Tarantino talked a bit about the project, and acknowledged it would never get made. “I even had a title for it,” the filmmaker said. “It was called Double V Vega. It actually would have taken place during the time Vincent was in Amsterdam, when he was running one of Marcellus’ clubs in Amsterdam. And Vic goes to visit him.”
However, Tarantino also added he had an idea that would enable the older actors to make the film, and make it a sequel instead of a prequel:
“But we’re a little older now, and since they both died – it would have to be a prequel. I actually came up with a way I could have done it, even being older and dead where they all had older brothers and both of their brothers got together because the two guys died. And they wanted revenge or something like that. But now, they [the actors] are too old for that…I gotta say, it’s kind of unlikely now.”
In a recent interview with THR, Michael Madsen confirmed Tarantino’s plans. “He had come up with this idea that it would be the twin brothers of Vic and Vincent, who met after the deaths of their siblings,” Madsen said. “It was very complicated, but when Quentin starts discussing an idea, it’s very easy to go along with it.” Madsen added: “The picture was going to start out with the two of us being released from prison in different states. And we open up a club in Amsterdam.”
Revealing that Travolta and Madsen’s characters both had their own identical twins seems a bit silly, but as Madsen says, Tarantino probably could’ve found a way to make it work. An earlier idea for the film would’ve nixed the twins idea completely, and been a true prequel, leading up to the events of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. That version reportedly involved a third Vega brother named Vito, who also died (those Vega brothers have really bad luck).
Of course, none of this happened, and the Vega Brothers movie must now be thrown onto the pile with all of Tarantino’s other unrealized projects, like his Star Trek movie, his James Bond movie, and Kill Bill Vol. 3.
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