Latest news with #Tarantino
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Meet the man planning to row from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia
James Tarantino has gotten used to people telling him he's crazy. This summer, the 63-year old is planning to row from Gloucester, Mass., to Lunenburg in a small wooden boat he's named the Heart o' Gloucester. When word of his plan started circulating in Gloucester, Tarantino said dozens of people reached out to say it couldn't be done. "[They say] the tide up there and the currents are too strong, you can't do it in a dory, you're going to die," he said. But Tarantino has a trick up his sleeve — a traditional Grand Banks dory built in Lunenburg. "It's a very, very safe boat," he said, adding that's what makes him confident about a trip that includes two nights in open water crossing the Bay of Fundy. "Semi-confident," he clarified. Lunenburg-Gloucester connection goes back centuries Tarantino will set out from Gloucester in late July with a dory mate, rowing the 1,100 kilometres to Lunenburg, rowing with his dory mate, Sarah LeWine, who's been Tarantino's dory racing partner for several years. It will take about three weeks, with Tarantino and LeWine stopping every four days to pick up additional food, as well as the eight gallons of water that they'll need for each four-day stretch. The dory will also be filled with a satellite radio, survival suits, life-jackets and other safety equipment they'll need on the journey. Gloucester and Lunenburg have a connection that goes back centuries. Gloucester was mapped by Samuel de Champlain in 1605, and incorporated as a town in 1642. In the 19th century, fishermen travelled from Atlantic Canada to work on the Grand Banks schooners that sailed from Gloucester. "All your best guys in the late 1800s wanted to come to Gloucester — they could make more money, they could feed their families better," said Tarantino. In the 20th century, that became a rivalry between Lunenburg and Gloucester over who could build a superior schooner. The Bluenose prevailed. Since then, dory racing has maintained the relationship between the two towns, including for Tarantino, who's been dory racing since he was 17, going to Lunenburg for competitions many times. "There's something about a fishing community, the character resonates, and there's a pride there as well. So it's fun to meet people from … another country that still share those same values." As he got older, Tarantino began dreaming of rowing between the two communities. He's not one to shy away from a challenge, or — as a former contestant on the television show Survivor - the limelight. "I always like attention," he said. "I'm a character, as you can tell." When it came time to have a dory built for his journey, he heard about a builder in Lunenburg, and made an appointment while attending a dory race in town. But when he saw the other dories that Andrew Rhodenizer was making, Tarantino was taken aback. "I said, 'Well, I want a dory — I don't want a [expletive] Viking warship." The dory, built in the traditional style, was bigger and heavier than the dories Tarantino was used to racing. Rhodenizer, who works with the Big Boat Shed on the Lunenburg waterfront, said the Grand Banks dory was traditionally used in the fishing industry, most often on Grand Banks schooners, where their design made them easy to stack, and able to carry an immense amount of weight for their size. Over time, that style has become less familiar, Rhodenizer said. "The kind of boat that we build here is a rarer thing these days … they're very traditional." Rhodenizer said they use traditional linseed oil paint and make their own pine tar. They also make the frame, otherwise known as the knees, from wood that is not bent, but cut from the roots and lower trunk of the hackmatack tree. "We try to practise really sustainable methods for going out and harvesting the materials that we use in the boats here, that's a big concern." Rhodenizer said the more Tarantino learned about their process, the more convinced he was that it met his need for a trustworthy vessel. "Using the construction methods that we do, you end up with a very rugged vessel," he said. "Truthfully, I wouldn't trust any other way." "We always say the dory is going to end up somewhere. It's just a matter of whether you can hang on." Journey raises awareness of tradition Wooden boats are hardly an anachronism, says Rhodenizer. Even as the community has changed, Rhodenizer said they remain an important part of Lunenburg's character "The maritime skills that are involved here are super important to us," he said "I don't know what the culture would be if it wasn't somewhat focused around maritime skills." Daniel Moreland, who runs The Dory Shop in Lunenburg — which has been making dories on the waterfront since 1917 — notes that at one point, every town on the Eastern Seaboard would have had dory shops. Lunenburg had three. The community doesn't need three any more, he said, though The Dory Shop still sells about 20 dories a year. Still, he's turned down offers to sell the shop for businesses like a tea house. "It's a pretty spot, a lot of people would like to have it for something other than building dories. But once you lose it, it's over." As for Tarantino, he said he intends the journey as a way of raising awareness of the importance of preserving those skills. Over time, Gloucester has changed. Groundfish have dwindled and employment in fisheries has declined. Tarantino said it's important for people to retain a connection with a sense of place. He said that in Gloucester and Lunenburg, that includes the skills that have characterized those places for centuries. "Whatever you can do to inspire other people to keep those traditions alive — once they're gone, they're gone." MORE TOP STORIES
Buzz Feed
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
29 Actors Who Were Cast At The Very Last Second
Recently, Reddit user ValoNoctis asked about last-minute casting that saved a movie, and I can't believe some of these actors almost didn't play these iconic roles. Here are actors who came in at the eleventh hour and killed it. Director Quentin Tarantino struggled to find the right actor to play Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. On the podcast The Moment With Brian Koppelman, Tarantino said the movie was already in pre-production, and they hadn't cast the role — which was a problem, as Tarantino had decided to shelve the project for a few years if he couldn't find the perfect actor. "It's Tuesday morning, and by Friday, Universal Pictures sign the check, and now we're making the movie for Universal. And I know if I'm gonna pull the plug, I've gotta pull it before Thursday," he revealed. On Wednesday, Christoph Waltz auditioned, and Tarantino immediately knew he'd found his Landa. Waltz would end up winning an Oscar for his portrayal. Suggested by u/bvmse Gene Wilder wanted the role of Jim in Blazing Saddles, but director Mel Brooks thought he was too young. "I need an older guy — someone who could look like an over-the-hill alcoholic," he told Wilder. He went with Gig Young, who was known to struggle with alcoholism in real life, which Brooks thought would work well with the character. However, on the very first morning of filming, Young was dealing with alcohol withdrawal — which was made worse by the fact that his character was upside-down. "We draped Gig Young's legs over and hung him upside down. And he started to talk and he started shaking." At first, Brooks thought this was just great acting. Suggested by u/hedbopper But..."The shaking never stopped, and green stuff started spewing out of his mouth and nose, and he started screaming." Brooks said he learned his lesson not to cast someone with alcoholism as a character with alcoholism: "I said, 'That's the last time I'll ever cast anybody who really is that person.'" He continued, "Poor Gig Young, it was the first shot on Friday, nine in the morning, and an ambulance came and took him away. I had no movie." Brooks quickly called up Wilder, who flew out the next day to film. They were shooting again on Monday. Wilder ended up being perfect for the role, cementing the movie in comedy history. Another actor who was replaced after filming started? Harvey Keitel in Apocalypse Now. He actually shot for a full week before being recast. The film's director, Francis Ford Coppola, apparently felt he wasn't right for the role, and also that Keitel was uncomfortable filming in the jungle (which Keitel has disputed). Coppola convinced Martin Sheen to take the role instead — he'd originally wanted Sheen for the role, but he was unavailable. Sheen's performance would end up being the most memorable part of the film. Suggested by u/congo66 Joaquin Phoenix was originally cast as the lead in Split, but dropped out only weeks before filming began. James McAvoy stepped in to play the role and said he only had two weeks to prepare. While Phoenix obviously is a talented actor, McAvoy's performance was stellar, garnering critical acclaim — one reviewer called it "the performance of his career." Suggested by u/ralo229 Tim Colceri spent weeks rehearsing for his role as a drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, with director Stanley Kubrick continuously telling him shooting would begin the next day, then not following through. Eventually, Colceri was given a letter by Kubrick stating he had been recast with R. Lee Ermey. Ermey, a Vietnam War veteran, had been initially hired as a technical consultant on the film. However, he won Kubrick over with an unsolicited audition tape, earning the role over Colceri, who had been cast eight months earlier. Ermey knocked it out of the park, with the scene of him yelling at the recruits — which was half improvised — becoming one of the most memorable parts of the film. Colceri was cast in a smaller role. Suggested by u/Alteredego619 Paul Dano only had about four days to prepare for his role as Eli in There Will Be Blood. He had already been cast as Paul, and Kel O'Neill had been cast as Eli (who was not initially Paul's brother). In fact, O'Neill had already filmed for weeks. However, O'Neill did not work well with the director, Paul Thomas Anderson, so Anderson decided to give Dano the additional role and make the characters twins. "I just went for it, threw myself in there and gave it everything I had," Dano said. "That was just guts and instinct, not a lot of preparation. ... I had to cut loose and go for it," he said. Dano was nominated for a BAFTA for his role as the twins. Suggested by u/MrAldoRayne Director John Carpenter was unsure about casting Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady in The Thing and only decided on him the day they flew out to film the movie. There's actually a scene where MacReady flies a helicopter that's not even Russell — it's a pilot in the character's costume because they didn't have Russell on hand yet. The film ended up being one of Russell's best roles. Dianna Agron was cast the day before the pilot for Glee began shooting. Producers were actually about to cut her character as they hadn't found someone for the role — and her casting ended up vastly changing how they envisioned the character. Series creator Ryan Murphy said Agron "ruined the part" for him because she "humanized" Quinn. "She can cry at the drop of a hat. So now her character has a conscience, a soul, and great vulnerability." Murphy was right; Agron imbued the character with a complexity that elevated the role beyond a basic cheerleader role. Viggo Mortensen was cast after production began for The Lord of the Rings. He replaced Stuart Townsend, who was deemed too young for the role and fired the day before filming began. "I felt unprepared," Mortensen revealed. "The other actors had been there for weeks and months, in some cases, preparing for the arduous task of shooting the whole trilogy. I also felt awkward because I'd never been in a position of replacing another actor." Despite his fears, Mortensen killed it in the role. Suggested by u/revdon Stuart Townsend was also replaced in Thor just days before the start of filming. Josh Dallas was cast in the role instead after "creative differences" (though there were rumors Townsend had been late for a screen test and was fired), and he only had a few days before he had to film. Nevertheless, he did well in the small role. Stanley Tucci similarly replaced another actor days before production began. After Ryan Gosling was cast in The Lovely Bones, he started drinking melted ice cream and gained 60 pounds because he "really believed he should be 210 pounds." However, he didn't communicate this to director Peter Jackson, who "had a different idea of how the character should look." When Gosling showed up on set to film, Jackson fired him. Tucci was cast in the role instead, and was the perfect level of creepy. Peter Jackson's wife and collaborator Fran Walsh said it was more Gosling's youth that led to him being ousted, saying Gosling believed he was too young for the role and "was so uncomfortable moving forward, and we began to feel he was not right." Speaking of Tucci, he accepted his role in The Devil Wears Prada only 72 hours before the start of shooting. "I was cast at the 11th hour," Tucci told Entertainment Weekly. "But it was just such a beautiful piece of writing, and there's no way that you could ever say no to such a thing. ... It touched you emotionally. It's the perfect Hollywood movie." Today, it's one of Tucci's most beloved roles. Over 40 women auditioned to play Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Louise Fletcher eventually nabbed the part — days before filming began. "It's a miracle I survived the first day. I was so scared. It was only later that I realized that everybody was scared," she said. Fletcher earned an Oscar for her portrayal. Michael Garza was cast as Ramón Morales in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark only "a couple of days before filming" because writer/producer Guillermo del Toro and director Andre Ovredal couldn't find someone they wanted for the role. "It was a last-minute audition, and I got it. It was crazy, a whirlwind of emotions," Garza revealed. Garza was nominated for an Imagen Award for his portrayal. A week before Prison Break began shooting, it didn't have either of its leads. Wentworth Miller was cast only a week before shooting. And Dominic Purcell wasn't officially cast until three days prior to filming. Both actors were perfect for the role and contributed to the show lasting five seasons. Similarly, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw, who played two of the leading roles in Jaws, were cast only nine days before shooting began. Both earned critical acclaim for their performances. Michael J. Fox was cast in Back to the Future five weeks after it started filming. Eric Stoltz had initially been cast in the role and even filmed for multiple weeks before director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale decided he didn't have the right comedic tone for Marty. They decided to replace him with Fox, their first choice for the role. However, they couldn't do this right away (Fox was still busy shooting Family Ties) and continued to film with Stoltz for days knowing they wouldn't use the footage. It ended up becoming Fox's most memorable role. Suggested by u/Drewp655321 Sam Waterston was cast in Godless at the last minute because the actor who was supposed to play Marshal John Cook got sick. He only had four days to prepare for the role — yet he killed it in the critically acclaimed series. Chris Sheffield was cast in The Maze Runner so late that the director, Wes Ball, and the producers for the film were already in Louisiana, preparing the production. A few days later, Sheffield was heading to Louisiana, too, to shoot, crafting a strong performance despite his lack of preparation. David Hayman was cast days before Bull started shooting because the original actor had dropped out. "I had no time to think about it," Hayman revealed. "I love Paul Andrew Williams's work. His movies and work are challenging. I love the cast. So it was a no-brainer for me to do it." Hayman's performance was highly praised in reviews. Patrick Renna was the last actor cast in The Sandlot after another actor dropped out only two days before production started on location. Director David Mickey Evans called meeting Renna a "godsend" as he was perfect for the role. Michael Biehn was cast in Aliens weeks into filming, as James Remar had recently been fired after getting arrested for drug possession. According to Biehn, Aliens producer Gale Anne Hurd called him on a Friday and asked if he had a current passport — which, luckily, he did. By Monday, he was on set, giving a legendary performance. Suggested by u/jayseventwo Ed Harris was cast to play Christof in The Truman Show when principal photography was almost done, and shot for only 10 days. He replaced Dennis Hopper, who left the cast due to "creative differences." Harris was nominated for an Oscar for the role. In a pretty unprecedented move, Christopher Plummer was cast in All the Money in the World AFTER the film had been entirely shot. Replacing Kevin Spacey in the wake of his sexual assault allegations, Plummer reshot all of Spacey's scenes in just nine days. He was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the film. Suggested by u/boringwhitecollar Similarly, Tobey Maguire had already filmed all of his scenes for Life of Pi when the director decided to replace him because he was too famous, making his presence distracting. Rafe Spall was quickly cast in Maguire's role, putting him in the rare position of being cast AFTER a movie was technically "complete," though, of course, he had to reshoot all of Maguire's scenes. This was probably the right decision, as I can't picture Maguire in this role. Ben Whishaw was cast as the voice of the titular teddy bear in Paddington after the film was shot. Colin Firth had initially taken on the role but came to a mutual agreement with producers that his voice sounded too mature. "That was a bit scary because it was late in the process. We'd shot the film, but it was the right call," recalled producer David Heyman. Firth's exit was in June, and the film was set to come out in November. Luckily, since Whishaw was just providing a voice, they could still finish the movie for its November release. Paddington would end up becoming critically acclaimed, with Whishaw's voice fitting perfectly. The same happened with Scarlett Johansson in Her. Samantha Morton had originally been cast and worked on set throughout filming. While editing during post-production, director Spike Jonze "realized that what the character/movie needed was different from what Samantha and I had created together." They recast Johansson in the role in the 11th hour, re-recording the character's dialogue. Johansson's voice ended up being a much better fit for the role. And finally, Dougray Scott was originally meant to play Wolverine in the first X-Men film, but issues relating to Scott's role in Mission Impossible II forced him to drop out just as they were about to start shooting. Hugh Jackman — who had first auditioned for the role nine months earlier — took on the role at the 11th hour and was unprepared. In fact, Jackman said that they had to push back the first scene he was meant to shoot, which was a shirtless scene, because he needed time to bulk up. Jackman's performance would end up being one of the most memorable of his career. Suggested by u/Fun-Contribution-601 What do you think? Were these actors the right choice? How did they do considering they had no prep time? Let us know in the comments!
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Reservoir Dogs actor Michael Madsen died from heart failure, says cardiologist
Actor Michael Madsen, who starred in Reservoir Dogs and Thelma & Louise, died from heart failure, his cardiologist has said. The 67-year-old was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, California, last Thursday and . His doctor said heart disease and alcoholism will be listed as factors which contributed to the star's death, . With no suspicious circumstances and the death listed as being from natural causes, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department considers the case closed. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Madsen's film credits include Free Willy, Donnie Brasco and Sin City. He was also known for his collaborations with director , including in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. The Chicago-born actor also linked up with Tarantino when he played Mr Blonde in 1992's Reservoir Dogs. Read more from Sky News: His sister, Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, paid tribute to her brother in a statement to Variety. She wrote: "My brother Michael has left the stage. "He was thunder and velvet. Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother - etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark." Madsen was preparing to release a new book called Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts And Poems. A statement by managers Susan Ferris and Smith, and publicist Liz Rodriguez, said the book by "one of Hollywood's most iconic actors" was currently being edited.
The Guardian
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Michael Madsen's brooding charisma needed Tarantino to unlock it
Until 1992, when people heard Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealers Wheel on the radio, they might smile and nod and sing along to its catchy soft-rock tune and goofy Dylan-esque lyrics. But after 1992, with the release of Quentin Tarantino's sensationally tense and violent crime movie Reservoir Dogs, the feelgood mood around that song forever darkened. That was down to an unforgettably scary performance by Michael Madsen, who has died at the age of 67. Stuck in the Middle, with its lyrics about being 'so scared in case I fall off my chair', was to be always associated with the image of Madsen, whom Tarantino made an icon of indie American movies, with his boxy black suit, sinister, ruined handsomeness and powerful physique running to fat, playing tough guy Vic Vega, AKA Mr Blonde. He grooved back and forth across the room, in front of a terrified cop tied to a chair, dancing to that Stealers Wheel number, holding his straight razor, which he had removed from his boot – smirkingly preparing to torture the cop (that is, torture him further) by cutting off his ear. His Mr Blonde is a nasty piece of work, really without the ironising or humanising touches that Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary speckle over the rest of the crew; Madsen brought beef and heft to the role and added ballast to the picture, making sure we realise that this was not a collection of snarky suit-wearing hipsters and standup comedians, but serious criminals. Madsen was to become a repertory player for Tarantino, though turning down the Vincent Vega role in Pulp Fiction (supposedly the brother of his Dogs character; Tarantino once considered bringing them together for a prequel called Double V Vega). Famously, the part went to John Travolta, Madsen having committed himself to Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp, playing Wyatt's brother Virgil. Perhaps this was serendipitous for Tarantino, because Madsen was a born supporting player. In Kill Bill: Vols 1 and 2, he played the oafish trailer-trash Budd, brother of David Carradine's intimidating Bill, a one-time member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who has neglected his warrior vocation and run to seed, having to Bill's horror even pawned his priceless samurai sword. In Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, he was the creepy and taciturn loner Joe, slouching in the corner of the roadhouse where most of the action is set. Aside from the Tarantino appearances, Madsen played formidable wiseguy Sonny Black in Mike Newell's Donnie Brasco, deeply suspicious (as in Dogs) of a suspected cop, the pretty-boy newcomer Johnny Depp, sensing that something about him is off – and he himself played a cop (though a ruthless one) in Lee Tamahori's Mulholland Falls. In fact, Madsen was to make a living out of playing tough guys in a whole raft of forgettable pictures, sometimes with hardly more than a cameo. Perhaps Madsen could have had a different career – he did after all effectively apprentice as an actor with John Malkovich at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company; his wryly self-aware and self-satirising movie Being Michael Madsen is a nod to Being John Malkovich. Madsen's mother, Elaine Madsen, was an award-winning documentary film-maker and sister Virginia Madsen is Oscar-nominated for her performance in Alexander Payne's Sideways. But Michael Madsen found himself typecast in violent roles, despite having played a heartfelt, gentler role in Free Willy, and the broodingly intense poet Tom Baker, Jim Morrison's friend, in Oliver Stone's The Doors and he showed tender gallantry as Susan Sarandon's boyfriend in Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise. Tarantino unlocked one very powerful side to Madsen – but he had more, and it was sad that somehow he couldn't show them as much as he wanted. But what natural charisma and presence.
The Guardian
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Michael Madsen obituary
The actor Michael Madsen, who has died aged 67 of a cardiac arrest, saw himself as a 'throwback' to the era of noir heavies such as Robert Mitchum and Lee Marvin. But plying his jocular menace in the modern Hollywood era gave the actor expanded possibilities for movie violence that elevated him, at certain moments, to a timeless screen presence. When he severed a policeman's ear in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 debut Reservoir Dogs, after sadistically bopping to the sounds of Stealers Wheel's pop hit Stuck in the Middle With You, it became Madsen's calling-card scene. He had originally auditioned for the part of Mr Pink, the role eventually played by Steve Buscemi, before the director realised his imposing qualities were perfect for the loose-cannon psychopath, Mr Blonde. 'Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie, or are you gonna bite?' Madsen taunts Harvey Keitel's Mr White, sipping a soda. This was Madsen's breakthrough role, in which he incarnated Tarantino's notions of freeze-dried cinematic cool; the start of a long association between actor and director. The pair fell out for a time after Madsen declined the role of Vincent Vega – the brother of his Reservoir Dogs character – in Pulp Fiction; he was contracted to the now forgotten 1994 western Wyatt Earp. But after reconciling, Madsen went on to play notable parts in Kill Bill: Vols 1 & 2 (2003 and 2004), The Hateful Eight (2015) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). He appreciated the director's loyalty: 'I would have been dead and buried long ago if it wasn't for Quentin,' he told Deadline Hollywood. With his rangy frame, dark Italianate looks and Eastwoodian squint, Madsen was an obvious casting choice for 1990s crime films, convincing as both detective – in the LAPD thriller Mulholland Falls (1996) – and felon –in the 1994 remake of Sam Peckinpah's The Getaway and in the revisionist gangster film Donnie Brasco (1997). Though his brooding aura could also be refashioned to romantic ends – as shown in another early role as Susan Sarandon's boyfriend in Thelma & Louise (1991) – he was soon typecast as an American badass (also the title of a 2023 documentary retrospective dedicated to him). After his 90s breakthrough, quality control quickly dissipated; his filmography ballooned to more than 300 titles, most straight-to-video dreck with titles such as Piranhaconda, A Cold Day in Hell, and Garlic & Gunpowder. In the scrabble for a pay-cheque, he rued the narrowing effects on his career. 'They bought my name, and they bought my face to put on the DVD box with a gun,' he told the Independent. 'What people don't always understand is that I established a lifestyle for my family.' Madsen was one of the dying breed of actors who brought blue-collar grit to the profession. Born in Chicago, he was one of three children of Elaine (nee Melson) and Calvin Madsen, growing up alongside his sisters, Cheryl and Virginia. His father was a second world war Navy veteran and firefighter; his mother worked in finance but, after divorcing 'Cal' when Madsen was nine, later became a film producer. Raised by his father, who physically beat him, the wary youth had a delinquent adolescence, including jail terms for car theft, assault and burglary. Later working as a mechanic at Joe Jacobs Chevrolet dealership, idolising the Nascar champion driver Richard Petty, Madsen was at first more enthused by motor racing than the arts. Watching Mitchum in the 1957 wartime romance Heaven Knows, Mr Allison altered his course. 'When I saw that movie, I thought: 'I could probably do that.'' Not long after having his first child, Jessica, with his girlfriend Dana Mechling, Madsen was stunned by a 1981 production of Of Mice and Men by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago; the star John Malkovich encouraged him to enrol in scene-study classes. Madsen later downplayed the importance of this tuition, even after appearing in another production of the same play as Carlson, the ranch hand who shoots a dog. This was his true education, he told the Independent: 'That fucking dog was the best acting teacher I ever had. When I was really into my character, the dog would get scared and I'd have to drag it offstage before I fired the blank gun. But if I wasn't into my performance, the dog would just be happy, and when I walked off it would follow me, which was just as upsetting for the audience.' Aided by his more studious sister Virginia, who already had an agent and would later star in the 1992 horror classic Candyman as well as the 2004 wine-country drama Sideways, Madsen landed an early role in the techno-thriller WarGames (1983); he played an air-force officer with no compunction about pressing the nuclear button. Still pumping gas at a Union 76 gas station in Beverly Hills for stars including Fred Astaire, Jack Lemmon and Warren Beatty, he subsisted largely on TV jobs for most of the 80s, including Miami Vice, Tour of Duty and Cagney & Lacey. Madsen married Cher's half-sister Georganne LaPiere in 1984; they divorced four years later. After scene-stealing first as the poet Tom Baker in Oliver Stone's biopic The Doors, then in Reservoir Dogs, the actor could not convert the Tarantino cachet into leading-man status. He hovered on the fringes of the mainstream in films including Free Willy (1993); the sexed-up Alien rip-off Species (1995), as a black-ops mercenary; and another career high as a rising mafia capo in Donnie Brasco. But whether because of Madsen's renegade reputation, or his lesser bankability compared to the rising stars of the time, other roles eluded him. He was outflanked by Woody Harrelson for Natural Born Killers and Russell Crowe for LA Confidential. During this period, from 1991 to 1995, he was married to the actor Jeannine Bisignano, with whom he had two sons, Christian and Max. In 1996 he married the actor DeAnna Morgan, while filming Donnie Brasco, and they went on to have three sons, Hudson, Kalvin and Luke. Tarantino kept the faith, casting Madsen as the Stetson-hatted assassin Budd, who buries Uma Thurman alive in the Kill Bill films; then as the saloon-lurking, coffee-poisoning cowboy Joe Gage in The Hateful Eight. A rumoured Reservoir Dogs prequel, featuring Madsen and John Travolta as the Vega brothers, never transpired. As Madsen upped his output to provide for his multiple families, averaging close to 10 movies a year by the 2010s, he also branched out into videogame voiceover work, including in Grand Theft Auto III and the Dishonored franchise. The real Madsen had rough edges; he lived a turbulent life, even as a family man in middle age and beyond. With drink-driving arrests in 2012 and 2019, he struggled with alcoholism. But the tough exterior concealed an observant and tender psyche. Though he only fleetingly tapped into it on screen, he gave it fuller rein in several published collections of impressionistic poetry often written on the hoof during his travels; one on his own leg in the back of a New York taxi. Madsen was devastated by the suicide in January 2022 of his son Hudson, a US army sergeant, at the age of 26; a month later, he was arrested for trespassing in Malibu. He reportedly assaulted his wife in August last year, though charges were later dropped; he filed for divorce in September. Such full-tilt recklessness, for good and ill, had been his modus operandi since he first broke into Hollywood, as he later told Esquire: 'In the early 90s I was constantly running a marathon, and although I won most of the races, I injured myself in the process.' He is survived by DeAnna, his daughter Jessica, his sons Christian, Max, Kalvin and Luke, his stepson, Cody, his mother, Elaine, and his sisters, Cheryl and Virginia. Michael Søren Madsen, actor, born 25 September 1957; died 3 July 2025
