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Quentin Tarantino explains how 'The Golden Girls' helped 'Reservoir Dogs' get made

Director Quentin Tarantino stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, where he shared the weird connection between his 1992 crime film Reservoir Dogs and the classic TV show The Golden Girls.

Before Tarantino became one of the most iconic directors of all time, he had what he called "a very unsuccessful acting career."

Tarantino shared, "However, one of the jobs I did get, and not because I did a wonderful audition, but simply because they sent my picture in and they said, 'He's got it,' was for an Elvis impersonator on The Golden Girls."

Tarantino, who is currently celebrating a lot of success from his most recent film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which took home three Golden Globes Sunday — Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Brad Pitt) and Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy — explained how, in the '80s, he was so obsessed with Elvis that he walked around dressed like the singer head-to-toe, which proved to be very lucrative for him.

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"It became a two-part Golden Girls. So I got paid residuals for both parts," shared Tarantino.

"It was so popular they put it on a ‘Best of The Golden Girls,’ and I got residuals every time that showed. So I got paid maybe, I don't know, $650 for the episode, but by the time the residuals were over, three years later, I made like $3,000. And that kept me going during our pre-production time trying to get Reservoir Dogs going."

L-R: Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Chris Penn, Lawrence Tierney, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Eddie Bunker in <i>Reservoir Dogs</i>. (Miramax)
L-R: Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Chris Penn, Lawrence Tierney, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Eddie Bunker in Reservoir Dogs. (Miramax)

Reservoir Dogs was released to widespread acclaim in 1992, setting the director on the path to winning the prestigious Palme D’Or in 1994 with his next film Pulp Fiction.