Writer and director Quentin Tarantino once plotted a Vega Brothers movie; here’s how he can still make his Pulp Fiction prequel happen, many years later. Bursting onto the scene with 1992’s heist classic Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino grabbed the cultural zeitgeist by the horns and refused to let go, before going on to become one of America’s most celebrated filmmakers of all time. Pulp Fiction, his sophomore feature, was praised for being a cinematic game-changer with its non-linear narrative and rambling dialogue scenes that have been oft-imitated but rarely bettered. Like Marvel’s MCU movies, many of Tarantino’s characters share the same fictional universe (a concept likely inspired by the works of writer Elmore Leonard). Two of these characters, Reservoir Dog’s Vic Vega AKA Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) and Pulp Fiction’s Vincent Vega (John Travolta), are brothers and were touted to star in an unrealized prequel movie: Double V Vega.
In 2007, Tarantino spoke about the unrealized Vega brothers movie on radio show Opie and Anthony, stating: “It actually would have taken place during the time Vincent was in Amsterdam, when he was running one of Marcellus’s clubs [...] And Vic goes to visit him”. Viewers will recall Pulp Fiction’s famous “Royale with cheese” scene wherein Vincent tells fellow-hitman Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) about his time in Amsterdam. They will also recall that both Vega brothers die in their respective movies, thus necessitating the “prequel” angle.
While Tarantino toiled with the idea of giving Vic and Vincent two older brothers after the actors aged out of their original roles, Double V Vega seemed dead in the water for a time - and then, in 2021, Tarantino novelized his hit movie Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. Unless Tarantino was willing to utilize digital de-aging technology, which seems highly unlikely given his practical filmmaking approach, Double V Vega wouldn’t be possible short of re-casting the original roles. A novel based on the Vega brother's idea, however, wouldn’t have the same concerns.
A novelized prequel to his first two movies would bring Tarantino’s career full circle. Lately, the director has been all about his own legacy - waxing lyrical about his self-imposed “ten and done” filmography (providing Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 are counted as one movie). While a film prequel to Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction is not likely to happen, there’s a certain poetic quality to the idea; not to mention a high level of marketability. A novel, then, would be the next best thing - if not better - and shed more light on two of his earlier characters who have since become pop culture icons.
The idea of Tarantino re-visiting earlier characters in novel form isn’t anything new, with the writer/director suggesting a few story ideas himself. Django in White Hell, a novelized spin-off to Django Unchained, became instead the starting point for The Hateful Eight (via EW), and a series of paperback novels revolving around Inglourious Basterd’s Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), which involved the ex-Nazi Colonel solving murders on Nantucket Island, was once under consideration (via the HappySadConfused podcast). Of course, before Quentin Tarantino goes full-on novelist and possibly re-visits works like Pulp Fiction, he still has one original movie left to round out his 10-film filmography; the release of which will surely send film-nerds into meltdown all across the globe. Until then, fans will have to wait for any glimmer of hope that Michael Madsen's Vic and John Travolta's Vincent may ever unite on screen.