A month after his death at age 67, one of Michael Madsen‘s most prolific collaborators paid tribute to the late actor in Los Angeles.
On Friday, Quentin Tarantino hosted a private memorial for Madsen at the filmmaker’s Vista Theatre, where he recounted earning Madsen’s respect on the set of their 1992 film Reservoir Dogs after firing co-star Lawrence Tierney in the first week.
“It was the last hour of the last day of the first week of shooting. So, I had never directed a movie before,” Tarantino noted on stage in a video shared by TMZ. “And Lawrence Tierney was a f—ing nightmare. He was completely insane. He was so crazy, and I’d never directed before, so I’m dealing with a crazy man Monday through Saturday.”
Recalling the incident that forced his hand, Tarantino said, “All the other actors and the crew can’t stand him. And all of a sudden, he yells at me, does something disrespectful.” Acting out the rant, he continued, “And so, I fired him at the breakfast table. The crew breaks into applause.”
“I thought, I just spent a week shooting this guy. Now I just fired him,” the writer, director and co-star said. “Live Entertainment is gonna fire me. That’s it for my career. It was nice while it lasted. But I had to do it, I had to stand up for myself.”
Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Penn, Lawrence Tierney, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi in ‘Reservoir Dogs’ (1992) (Miramax Films/Courtesy Everett Collection)
But Tarantino had support from Madsen, who left a message on his answering machine that night. “He said, ‘Yea, Quentin, it’s Michael,” recalled Tarantino in his best Madsen voice. “‘Just calling to say that I really respected what you did tonight. It was important, and needed to be done. He was busting your balls and you had to do it. And I want you to know that I respect it, as a director, I respect it as a captain, and I respect it as a man. So, I’m on your side, buddy. Thanks.’”
Madsen, who died of heart failure on July 3, played Vic Vega/Mr. Blonde in Tarantino’s directorial debut Reservoir Dogs, which also starred the auteur as Mr. Brown and Tierney as crime boss Joe Cabot.
The heist film marked Tarantino and Madsen’s first collaboration, before working together on Kill Bill: Vol 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol 2 (2004), Sin City (2005), The Hateful Eight (2015) and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019).
