Matt Dillon reportedly turned down a role in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction because he was reluctant to play another drug addict so soon after appearing as one in Drugstore Cowboy. The decision mattered because Pulp Fiction became a defining independent film of the decade, while the part Dillon declined went to John Travolta and helped revive his career.

Dillon was considered for the role of Vincent Vega, the hitman ultimately played by Travolta alongside Samuel L Jackson’s Jules Winnfield. Although Dillon later acknowledged that he would have enjoyed working with Tarantino, he felt the character was too close to his recent work and chose not to repeat himself.