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John Travolta’s acting genius is now known to many; however, with a string of success always comes its fair share of setbacks, which even the Grease actor was not immune to. The 1990s were not kind to the actor after a series of box office failures such as Two of a Kind, The Experts, and Perfect.

John Travolta in Pulp Fiction || Miramax Films

Whatever he tried at this point in his career was leading to failure and box-office disasters. But this one movie, directed under the brilliance of Quentin Tarantino, proved to be a career-saving move for Travolta.

How did Quentin Tarantino save John Travolta’s failing Hollywood career?

While many wondered, it was a miracle in itself that Travolta was even getting cast after his back-to-back debacles; however, Quentin Tarantino had other plans for the actor and approached him for his crime movie Pulp Fiction (1994).

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“It’s the first comedic thriller I’ve ever done. A lot of the projects that I’ve done in the past have been very black and white; they’re heroic, they’re drama, they’re rom-com, and you always know who the antagonist is and you know who you’re supposed to be rooting for,” declares “Based on a True Story” composer Sherri Chung. For our recent webchat she adds, “This was a story where we don’t know if should we be rooting for this guy, is this guy as bad as he said, as bad as we think he is, is he as good as we think he is? The challenge musically was that you don’t want to give it away. You don’t want to telegraph what the audience doesn’t know yet. You don’t want to ruin the fun of them trying to...

“After 14 years to get the cast back together, the team back together, it was a blast,” declares Randy Zisk about directing the 2023 Peacock original film “Mr. Monk’s Last Case,” a follow-up to the original series starring Tony Shalhoub. “Everyone was so excited to do it. It came together pretty well and pretty easily.” We talked with Zisk as part of our “Meet the Experts” TV directors panel. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

Created by Andy Breckman, “Monk” originally ran from 2002 to 2009 on USA, winning Shalhoub three Emmys for Best Comedy Actor for playing the title detective who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. “Mr. Monk’s Last Case” brings him back to solve the murder of his stepdaughter’s fiancé, for which a ruthless billionaire (James Purefoy) is the prime suspect. Monk is reluctant to return to solving crimes, however, as his mental illness has intensified and he’s contemplating suicide.

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“It’s like you have a buffet and you have to pick. You don’t want to eat too much, you just want to have just the right amount,” declares “Elsbeth” showrunner Jonathan Tolins about giving the audience the best of Elsbeth’s quirky traits without overdoing it or wearing out the audience. “Carrie is such an honest actress. She knows how to play everything real for Elsbeth, so it never feels like we’re just doing silly schtick.” For our recent webchat he adds, “A lot of the fun things we do with her is that she’s in the background, back of the frame, doing her thing,” he says, noting with a wry smile that “tone is the hardest thing to describe, but it’s like the old Supreme Court definition of pornography: you know it when you see it.” We talked with Tolins as part of Gold...