The cast of 1994 hit Pulp Fiction honoured co-star Bruce Willis as they reunited on Thursday to mark three decades of the classic film.
The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards during the 67th ceremony, including nods for John Travolta for his role as Vincent Vega, Samuel L Jackson for character Jules Winnfield, Uma Thurman, who played Mia Wallace – and director Quentin Tarantino.
Other stars including Harvey Keitel, Rosanna Arquette and Eric Stoltz also arrived at the TCL Chinese Theatre to kick off the TCM Classic Film Festival with a screening of the film – which won an Oscar in the writing category.
Bruce Willis, who played Butch Coolidge in the film, was not present – having been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in February 2023.
In his absence, his wife Emma Heming Willis, 45, and 30-year-old daughter Tallulah, who he welcomed with ex Demi Moore, were there to represent his involvement in the cult film.
Paying tribute to her father on the red carpet, Tallulah donned a black baseball cap with ‘Bruce’ embroidered in white letters.
Grease star Travolta, who was supported at the event by his 24-year-old daughter Ella Bleu, reminisced about working with his dear friend Willis.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, he shared: “Bruce and I had a history. We did Look Who’s Talking together, and we had a massive success with it.
“So we were [friends]. We had been on vacation together, Kelly [Preston] and I with Bruce and Demi [Moore]. So this was not new. We were comfortable with each other.
“It was very easy to be with each other and relax, you know? And there was real genuine care. And we felt lucky we were in a very special movie.”
He later told Variety: “With Bruce it was like being at home, it was very comfortable, (he’s) just a good person. We cared for each other.”
Arquette, who played Jody in the film, also described Die Hard star Willis as “one of the great guys”.
“I also did with Matthew Perry and him, The Whole Nine Yards. He is just a wonderful, sweet, good, kind man, he is surrounded by so much love in his family right now, he’s just great,” the 64-year-old said.
Echoing Arquette’s sentiments, Stoltz, who played Lance in Pulp Fiction, said that Willis was “always buying us pizza”, describing him as a “great guy”.
Speaking about the first day of rehearsal, the 62-year-old added: “The first day of rehearsal, Quentin took us all out to a sushi restaurant and we sat and laughed and ate and drank for hours, and when we left we felt like a company.
“We felt like we were all on the same boat.”
Meanwhile appearing at the 15th annual film festival in Los Angeles, Jackson said he “didn’t realise” that Pulp Fiction was a cultural phenomenon until the first screening.
“We were doing a film that was a lot of fun for us and a great script to do and big characters to be,” the 75-year-old said.
