Bring Out The Gimp! Quentin Tarantino Explains the Identity of ’Pulp Fiction’s Leather-Clad Icon

The Big Picture

Pulp Fiction
turned Quentin Tarantino into a massive filmmaking name.
The scene involving a gimp, Ving Rhames, and Bruce Willis is a jarring moment from the film.
Stephen Hibbert played the Gimp, revealing his audtion process and writing for kid’s shows.

Quentin Tarantino might have already been a successful director in 1994 thanks to Reservoir Dogs, made two years earlier, but it was Pulp Fiction that made him a household name while also resurrecting the career of John Travolta. Pulp Fiction was a critical and box office darling, winning the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, while also making $108 million in theaters worldwide on a mere $8 million budget. Pulp Fiction is a strange yet memorable trip, from its cool characters (no one is more of a badass than Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules Winnfield), to that iconic soundtrack, but there’s one scene in particular that’s more shocking than anything else. That would be the infamous Gimp scene, with the masked actor behind the character being played by a relatively unknown actor named Stephen Hibbert. How did Hibbert get the role though, and just who in the hell is the Gimp supposed to be anyway?

The Gimp Scene Is One of ‘Pulp Fiction’s Most Iconic Scenes

Image via Miramax

Much of Pulp Fiction might revolve around Vince Vega (Travolta) and Jules, but there’s also a subplot involving their intimidating boss, Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), and a down on his luck boxer named Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), who has double-crossed Marsellus and is now on the run, because if he’s caught, Marsellus will kill him. That’s almost exactly what happens when Marsellus spots Butch on his way out of town, leading to a foot chase that lands them in a pawnshop. It’s the very last place in the world they should have gone into.

Inside the shop, the bearded owner, a man named Maynard (Duane Whitaker), pulls a gun on the men and orders them to the basement, where they are beaten, and ball gags are put in their mouths. He is joined by an accomplice named Zed (Peter Greene), and the submissive Gimp, a chained man clad all in leather, complete with a leather mask. Maynard and Zed take Marsellus to another room to sexually assault him while the Gimp watches over Butch. The boxer is easily able to get out of his restraints and knock out the screaming Gimp, before he gets a sword and saves Marsellus, thus paying off his debt. In a movie filled with wild moments, this one is the most out there for sure.

‘Quentin Tarantino Explains the Gimp Character

For years, fans wondered just who the heck the Gimp was supposed to be. He has no backstory, no lines, and no reason at all to exist other than to make Maynard and Zed even more terrifying. In a 2020 interview with Empire, Quentin Tarantino finally explained the Gimp’s backstory and what happened to him after Butch left Marsellus alone with Zed. Tarantino said:

“It doesn’t quite play this way in the movie, but in my mind when I wrote it, the Gimp’s dead. 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.”

Uma Thurman lying on a bed with a cigarette and pistol in the official poster for Pulp Fiction.

The 10 Best ‘Pulp Fiction’ Quotes, Ranked

“Why do we feel it’s necessary to yak about bulls**t in order to be comfortable?”

Tarantino also spoke about the actor behind the Gimp, a man named Stephen Hibbert, a comedian who worked at the Groundlings, a comedy improv school in Los Angeles. He told a funny story about watching Pulp Fiction with another comedian, Jon Lovitz, and when Lovitz saw Hibbert’s name in the end credits, “He said out loud, “WHAT? I know the Gimp?!”

Stephen Hibbert Was a Writer for Two Popular Kids’ Cartoons

Pinky and the Brain from 'Animaniacs' — Image via Fox Kids

Jon Lovitz is a known name, from his days on SNL to his roles in movies and television, but Stephen Hibbert is someone you’ve probably never heard of. In 2014, twenty years after Pulp Fiction was released, Hibbert talked about his Gimp days with NPR’s All Things Considered. He spoke about performing with the Groundlings, and how Tarantino would come to shows not to be part of the audience but to perform as well. At the same time, Tarantino was writing Pulp Fiction, and he asked Hibbert to audition to be the Gimp. That led to a pretty unusual audition process. Hibbert explained:

“He and I did like a little psychodrama where he was, you know, being dominant and I was being passive. Just improv. I got the job and it was a blast. It was two days’ work, and he just said, ‘Go nuts.’ So I did.”

Stephen Hibbert admitted that the mask helped to hide his embarrassment, but that the leather gear was also very hot and uncomfortable. What could’ve also been uncomfortable is if people then knew what Hibbert was also doing in 1994. At the same time, he was playing the sexually creepy Gimp, Stephen Hibbert was writing for two kids’ television shows, Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. Even Quentin Tarantino couldn’t write something that funny.

Pulp Fiction is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.