Steve Buscemi will always be lauded for his role as Mr. Pink in Quentin Tarantino‘s Reservoir Dogs. The iconic character was a one-off in the ‘90s movie, but back in 2021, the actor suggested that Mr. Pink’s story didn’t actually end with the thriller movie. During an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, the drama movie actor theorized that Mr. Pink might have also been connected to his role in Pulp Fiction — and to be fair, he actually has a point.
“I don’t know if anyone else thinks about this, but because my character of Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs was such a cheapskate, and he didn’t like to tip, I thought it was poetic justice that my next film with Quentin, I play a waiter,” he explained. “I even like to think that maybe Mr. Pink got away somehow in Reservoir Dogs and he’s hiding out as the Buddy Holly waiter. And he probably gets tipped terribly. That’s his fate.”
With both films being directed by Tarantino, it’s the kind of mind-bending plot twist we definitely wouldn’t put past him. This connection would also certainly make Pulp Fiction, one of the best movies of all time, even better. So, let us be delulu about this with Steve, okay?!
Over the years, Tarantino and Buscemi have forged a strong working relationship — but in a past interview with Bomb, the director admitted that when he first came across Busciemi, he wasn’t even sure he was an actor.
“I first became aware of Steve Buscemi’s work as the young man living with AIDS in the late Bill Sherwood’s Parting Glances. The memory of this too-cool-for-school New York underground rodent, sitting on his lover’s lap, silently saying, ‘I love you,’ as his hand comes up snatching the unsaid word out of the air, has stayed in my heart to this day,” Tarantino explained.
“However, as much as I enjoyed his work, I didn’t expect to ever see him again. Actors in these underground movies aren’t often heard of again. I wasn’t even sure Steve Buscemi was an actor. His acting was so real. But in the real world, Buscemi was a former fireman, and is a current husband, father, and most definitely, an actor.”
Tarantino’s new movie, The Movie Critic, is currently slated for a 2024 release. For more on the upcoming film, be sure to check out our guide breaking down The Movie Critic release date, plot, cast, and more.
Or, check out some of our listicles on Hollywood’s most iconic directors, including articles on the best Quentin Tarantino movies, the best Steven Spielberg movies, and the best James Cameron movies.