The interconnections between Quentin Tarantino’s screenplays go further than Red Apple cigarettes.
For instance, Alabama (Patricia Arquette) in the Tarantino-scripted “True Romance” gets referenced in “Reservoir Dogs,” which also happens to feature Vic Vega (Michael Madsen), brother of Vincent Vega from “Pulp Fiction” (John Travolta). Then there’s Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth) in “Inglourious Basterds,” the father of movie producer Lee Donowitz (Saul Rubinek) in “True Romance.” Now, a thorough Redditor named thefirerisesnolan has found out where “Django Unchained” fits in Tarantino’s family tree.
As it turns out, “Django Unchained” references a character named “Crazy Craig Coons” (his name is spotted on a wanted poster); Coons is also the last name of Christopher Walken’s character in “Pulp Fiction,” the captain who visits young Butch to return his father‘s war watch.
Don’t feel bad if you didn’t catch the hat tip; not even Tarantino could remember which character from “Pulp Fiction” had origins in “Django Unchained.”
“You know, I got to think about that. I actually — I’ve spaced,” Tarantino told Jake Hamilton (who you remember from that awkward Samuel L. Jackson video interview). “I know what you’re talking about. There actually is one character in the film, but I can’t think of it right now. […] It’s so minor, it’s so minor.”
Watch Tarantino discuss this with Hamilton in the video below (starting at 3:28).