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Quentin Tarantino explains The Gimp's backstory in 'Pulp Fiction'

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Quentin Tarantino has given new insight into the mysterious character known as The Gimp from Pulp Fiction.

In the 1994 movie, Butch (Bruce Willis) and Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) are captured by a store owner Maynard (Duane Whitaker), before the latter is sexually assaulted by Maynard and his friend Zed (Peter Greene).

As Butch is tied-up in the next room, he is watched over by a man known only as The Gimp (Stephen Hibbert). Butch manages to break free and knock him out.

Tarantino has now opened up about what happened next and filled in some gaps on the character’s background while answering fan questions for Empire.

The Gimp from Pulp Fiction
The Gimp from Pulp Fiction. Credit: Miramax

“It doesn’t quite play this way in the movie, but in my mind when I wrote it, the Gimp’s dead,” he said of what happened afterwards. “Butch knocked him out and then when he passed out he hung himself.

“In terms of backstory, he was like a hitchhiker or somebody that they picked up seven years ago, and they trained him so he’s the perfect victim,” he continued.

“I heard a funny thing from Jon Lovitz, who knew Stephen Hibbert, the guy who played the Gimp, from The Groundlings. Jon watches Pulp Fiction for the first time and is like, ‘What the fuck is this?’ And he stays in the theatre as the credit crawl is going on and sees Stephen’s name. He said out loud, ‘WHAT? I know the Gimp?!’ [Laughs uproariously]”.








Meanwhile, Pierce Brosnan recently revealed that Tarantino once pitched him the idea for a James Bond movie while the pair were very drunk.

“He was pounding the table, saying you’re the best James Bond, I wanna do James Bond, and it was very close quarters in the restaurant and I thought, please calm down, but we don’t tell Quentin Tarantino to calm down,” he recalled.

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