The 1994 film, Pulp Fiction, is wildly considered a cinematic masterpiece. Few would argue against its acclaim, and along with the similar success of the film Reservoir Dogs, it helped propel director and writer Quentin Tarantino into filmmaking fame. Since its release, it has earned several awards and has been nominated for countless more. In particular, the film’s screenplay has won both an Oscar and Golden Globe thanks to its philosophical dialogue and use of scenes out of chronological order.
Tarantino was able to create the film with help from his long-time filmmaking partner Lawrence Bender. The duo got their start working on Reservoir Dogs in 1992, and last worked together on Inglourious Basterds in 2009. Lawrence Bender got his start as a producer in 1989 on the film Intruder, where he worked with two other filmmaking legends, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead fame. Born in 1957 in the Bronx, New York, Lawrence originally wanted to be a civil engineer. He attended the University of Maine in the late seventies, where obtained his bachelor’s degree in the field. He got into the film industry as a grip in the eighties, on the television series Tales from The Darkside.
Aside from his work with Tarantino, Lawrence has also produced numerous other films such as the Academy Award winning Good Will Hunting, several television shows, and even a few documentaries. Lawrence Bender is also an avid political and environmental activist, and his famous documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, won an Oscar for Best Documentary. He is a founding member of Global Zero, a group advocating for worldwide nuclear disarmament. His documentary Countdown to Zero focuses on various factors threatening the world due to nuclear weapons, and it has been screened across the world at places such as the United Nations and even the CIA headquarters.
Pulp Fiction, an early work for both Lawrence Bender and Quentin Tarantino, was admitted to the Library of Congress in 2013. Filmed on a budget of eight million, it has since gone on to gross a worldwide total of over 200 million dollars.