Laurence Fishburne on why he turned down the role of Jules in Pulp Fiction & Radio Raheem in Do The Right Thing

[Dr. Narcisse]

“I just had a problem with the way the heroin use was dealt with,” Fishburne said. “I just felt it was a little cavalier, and it was a little loose. I felt like it made heroin use attractive. For me, it’s not just my character. It’s, ‘What is the whole thing saying?’…It wasn’t about my character in ‘Pulp Fiction.’ It was about the way in which the heroin thing was delivered. And the whole fukking thing with the hypodermic and the adrenaline shot? No.”



For the record, Fishburne believes the role of Jules in “Pulp Fiction” is absolutely “a leading-man part” and that “Sam Jackson walks away with the movie.” The actor added, “Sam fukking sticks the movie in his pocket and walks away from it, walks into a fukking leading-man career. What are you talking about? It’s a great part.”



“It wasn’t about the part,” Fishburne continued. “It was about the totality of the thing, where I was like, ‘Why is it that the biggest, blackest, baddest motherfukker in the whole thing gets fukked in the ass by two country-ass motherfukkers? Explain me that.’ But when you talk to Ving [Rhames], he was like, ‘You know what, Fish? You have no idea how many cats have told me, “Thank you for doing that,”‘ and appreciated the fact that I was able to do that because some cats, that happens to them, and they’re still men. Just because you get raped, doesn’t make you any less a man.’ I wasn’t evolved enough to actually realize that, or to even think about it in those terms, but Ving was. Everything’s not for everybody.”

Radio Raheem in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” was another role Fishburne passed on for similar reasons. “There are ways in which [Lee] takes creative license with ‘Do the Right Thing’ that just didn’t feel right to me,” he told Vulture. “If you have a business in the heart of the African American community — but you’re not African American but you’ve been there for generations — then you become a member of the family, which means you’re basically protected from anything that should happen.”



Fishburne added, “Because it was loosely based on the events that had happened in Howard Beach, I just felt that if that pizzeria existed in the Black community in Brooklyn, that pizzeria was part of the community, and so even if there was a riot and even if there was racial tension, that it would not have escalated to the point where they’d just burn down the pizza parlor. Why did they burn down the pizza parlor and not the Korean grocery market? It felt a little disingenuous to me.”

Laurence Fishburne Opens Up About Rejecting ‘Pulp Fiction’ Over Tarantino’s Heroin Storyline

Fishburne also turned down "Do The Right Thing" because parts of Spike Lee's script "felt a little disingenuous" to him.

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[Sonic Boom of the South]

Ving Rhames can get the fukk outta here.

 

[inndaskKy]

But Morpheus heralding Keanu as the white savior of humanity was ok I guess?

 

[shopthatwrecks]

But Morpheus heralding Keanu as the white savior of humanity was ok I guess?

same peckerwoods who killed cornbread....

 

[get these nets]

I love Fish. Deep Cover is one of my favorite films of all time. But, I think he's holding his tongue here about objecting to the way racial slurs are thrown around in pulp fiction. Especially in scene towards the Jules character...In the words of John Hull. "The one that would even think about answering the question".

qt has deep seated hatred for Black people that became evident over the years.

The "violate Black man" scene is consistent with the free use of slurs.

Fish's stance about DTRT doesn't add up, I believe he's originally from NYC and has lived in LA. He's old enough to have heard accounts of and/or seen riots in both cities. Where even Black owned long standing businesses burned to the ground by rioters. If all of those real life businesses weren't protected during the late 1960s and Rodney King verdict riots, why would a fictional pizzeria be protected by the residents?

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

I love Fish. Deep Cover is one of my favorite films of all time. But, I think he's holding his tongue here about objecting to the way racial slurs are thrown around in pulp fiction. Especially in scene towards the Jules character...In the words of John Hull. "The one that would even think about answering the question".

qt has deep seated hatred for Black people that became evident over the years.

The "violate Black man" scene is consistent with the free use of slurs.

Fish's stance about DTRT doesn't add up, I believe he's originally from NYC and has lived in LA. He's old enough to have heard accounts of and/or seen riots in both cities. Where even Black owned long standing businesses burned to the ground by rioters. If all of those real life businesses weren't protected during the late 1960s and Rodney King verdict riots, why would a fictional pizzeria be protected by the residents?

But to his point why didn't they burn the Korean joint.

 

[King Poetic]

Everyone has their reasons

Im not hating on a legend like fishburne

But it was crazy to hear him say he never watch the NBA like that to know who doc rivers was and played doc good

 

[I'm Blackman]

Its always interesting to hear why actors turn down roles.

Cube turned down playing Lucky in Poetic Justice because he kicks his homeboy out the mail truck and leaves him. He asked John Singleton to change it and he said gtfoh like I would have.

 

[Tetris v2.0]

That's his opinion and while I disagree with some of it, it worked out well in the end

 

[boogers]

im glad it helped people on a therapeutic level for real

but that butt rape scene in Pulp Fiction was entirely unnecessary.

quentin tarantino is a documented weirdo. he wanted to do some weird shyt to a big black guy because of the emasculation

the hillbillies didn't have to rape Ving... they could've tortured him, cut off a couple fingers, whatever. they didnt have to fukking rape him

regardless, ving rhames killed that role. he was great in Dawn Of The Dead too

Ving Rhames can get the fukk outta here.

he probably has to have something scripted to say because of people constantly giving him shyt about doing that role

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

Its always interesting to hear why actors turn down roles.

Cube turned down playing Lucky in Poetic Justice because he kicks his homeboy out the mail truck and leaves him. He asked John Singleton to change it and he said gtfoh like I would have.

Depends on how you read it.

It did seem like a hard turn to just leave yo homeboy out to walk all the way back. Especially in those days. You already whooped his ass. Let the women sit in the back and he sit his ass up front and just be mad about it.

However, if that's just somebody he cool with it at work then it makes sense.

 

[Geek Nasty]

I love Fish. Deep Cover is one of my favorite films of all time. But, I think he's holding his tongue here about objecting to the way racial slurs are thrown around in pulp fiction. Especially in scene towards the Jules character...In the words of John Hull. "The one that would even think about answering the question".

qt has deep seated hatred for Black people that became evident over the years.

The "violate Black man" scene is consistent with the free use of slurs.

Fish's stance about DTRT doesn't add up, I believe he's originally from NYC and has lived in LA. He's old enough to have heard accounts of and/or seen riots in both cities. Where even Black owned long standing businesses burned to the ground by rioters. If all of those real life businesses weren't protected during the late 1960s and Rodney King verdict riots, why would a fictional pizzeria be protected by the residents?

I think he said it. Tarantino makes great movies bit he’s got a streak in him with emasculating black men and i think it has a lot to do with his mother.

Calling black men ****** in every film you direct isnt going to pull all that disco era dikk out of her coochie. I stopped watching his movies a while back.

 

[boogers]

Its always interesting to hear why actors turn down roles.

Cube turned down playing Lucky in Poetic Justice because he kicks his homeboy out the mail truck and leaves him. He asked John Singleton to change it and he said gtfoh like I would have.

yeah... i cant see it. Cube as Lucky that is. no fukking way.

dont get me wrong i love Cube but acting isn't really his best thing. when i watch a Cube movie, they work because the character is written around Cube, thats why hes great as Craig in Friday and fukking dog shyt as Danny in Anaconda. Three Kings was written around Cube. Barbershop was written around Cube, etc. it explains why XXX was so bad too

Ice Cube as a romantic lead? get the fukk outta here

 

[RickyDiBiase]

He wouldn't ha

Everyone has their reasons

Im not hating on a legend like fishburne

But it was crazy to hear him say he never watch the NBA like that to know who doc rivers was and played doc good

Denzel had to do some serious work when he played Malcolm X...back then gave him shyt for it too.

The fact he never read the Autobiography of Malcolm X and knew little about him was mind blowing, but damn it, he knocked it out the park.

 

[get these nets]

But to his point why didn't they burn the Korean joint.

I mentioned my take on that here before.
1) The protest and skirmish began inside Sal's. Cops came, killed Raheem, and left. Residents, following Mookie's lead vented by destroying the pizzeria.

2)Seems to be Spike Lee referencing The Auto Biography of Malcolm X. Where Malcolm details what happened during a previous riot in Harlem

Chapter 7 Hustler

Just recently I ran into Shorty Henderson on Seventh Avenue. We were laughing about a fellow whom the riot had left with the nickname of "Left Feet." In a scramble in a women's shoe store, somehow he'd grabbed five shoes, all of them for left feet! And we laughed about the scared little Chinese whose restaurant didn't have a hand laid on it, because the rioters just about convulsed laughing when they saw the sign the Chinese had hastily stuck on his front door: "Me Colored Too."

Watch the scene when they are about to hit the Korean grocer again.
Actor says "Me no white! Me Black too"
The crowd laughs, and leaves his store untouched.