KIRK BALTZ RECALLS RESERVOIR DOGS

"He was very brave and that scene bound us together in cinema history." Michael Madsen

KIRK BALTZ played "Marvin Nash" in Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS, the cop who gets trunk-napped by thugs, dragged in a warehouse and turned into a bloody piñata... And here are a few selections from my podcast interview where Kirk discusses a scene with Tim Roth and a story about the legendary Lawrence Tierney…

Kirk Baltz

What do you remember about the scene where you and “Mr. Orange,” played by Tim Roth, are alone in the warehouse?

The main thing I remember about that scene was… There’s a great master two-shot of Tim and I that’s from the other end of the warehouse, and obviously the camera’s all the way down there and behind the camera is the entire crew, maybe like thirty, forty people… I saw twenty-five, thirty people at least… What it felt like was like Tim and I were in a play... And we did the whole scene… we did a master… It was one of the first shots of that whole ending sequence. It was exciting for me because I’d done some other things; I’d done some other films and certainly some television and this was a very exciting moment for me.

Tim Roth

And we finished one of those master takes… I think the first one… And the whole crew just applauded, like we were at a play… And it was incredibly exciting. And I remember that was a big moment for me and like… you know… I had seen Tim in other things, I was a fan of his work… And I was so excited to have the opportunity to do that much work with him.

Lawrence Tierney

Lawrence Tierney, the veteran actor who played the boss, “Joe Cabot,” is known for his backstage antics… Anything happen with Lawrence on or off set?

Yeah there's one little one I got for ya: I’m sitting in my little trailer in-between something we were doing… All of the sudden the door to my trailer flies open, and he walks in and he’s undoing his zipper, and he’s starting to pull his dick out – he didn’t quite get that far, he was getting close. And he’s making a beeline for my bathroom; he kinda looks around a little bit like, “Shit, this isn’t my trailer,” and then he sees me sitting over there, reading a book: I’m on my chair… And he looks around the room and he sees me sitting in… for a moment what he thought was his room… And then he goes [using gruff voice]: “Can I use your bathroom?” And I said, “Sure Lawrence, you can use my bathroom.” He was a free spirit.

Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde

From a 2010 interview with actor Michael Madsen, who played Mr. Blonde, the viciously cool thug who tortures poor Marvin Nash with a razor, some gasoline and a classic rock tune, providing Kirk with an intensely wonderful performance... Here Michael recalls working with Kirk Baltz for that pivotal scene...

MICHAEL MADSEN ON KIRK BALTZ: He asked me to put him in the trunk of my car so he could see how it felt to be locked up. After he got in I drove around the neighborhood for a little while because I then realized it was a good idea for me also to get into character...

I don't think he appreciated it so I had to later remind him it was his idea. He was so good in that scene. Sometimes someone can be so good you don't even see it. He really sold it. He was very brave and that scene bound us together in cinema history.

The doomed POV of Officer Marvin Nash looking up at the devil dogs...