Thurman's agent Jay Moloney read a copy of the screenplay and felt Mia was perfect for her. Thurman, however was not as confident the role was right for her. She found the script frightening and vulgar. In spite of her misgivings she met Tarantino for a three hour lunch in Los Angeles, and later an hours long discussion in her New York apartment.[6]
Mia is the wife of the crime boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Before meeting Marsellus, Mia was an aspiring actress who appeared in a television pilot called Fox Force Five, which failed.
Marsellus goes out of town and asks Vincent Vega (John Travolta), one of his assassins, to take Mia out to dinner while he's gone. Vincent agrees, although he is worried about how it will look; when asked about taking her out, he repeatedly insists that "it's not a date". His friend and partner-in-crime and fellow hitman Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) warns him not to forget his place, and tells him a story about Antwan "Tony Rocky Horror" Rockamora, one of Marcellus' men whom Marcellus threw out of a four-story window, supposedly because he gave Mia a foot massage.
When Vincent goes to pick Mia up at Marcellus's lavish house, she speaks to him over the intercom as she snorts cocaine in a separate room. The two then head to dinner at Jack Rabbit Slim's, a 1950s-themed restaurant. During dinner, Mia and Vincent talk about subjects such as awkward silences, her acting career, 1950s and 1960s pop culture, and some gossip related to Vincent's business associates. When Vincent brings up what happened to Rockamora, Mia says that "The only thing Tony ever touched of mine was my hand when he shook it on my wedding day". Suddenly, the restaurant's DJ announces a twist contest, and Mia wants to win the trophy for first place. Though Vincent is reluctant, he gets up and dances the twist with Mia to Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell".
When Mia and Vincent return to the house to celebrate, Vincent goes to the bathroom while Mia dances Urge Overkill's cover of "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon". While Vincent contemplates what to do next in the bathroom, Mia finds a small bag of heroin inside Vincent's coat pocket, and snorts it, thinking that it is cocaine. When Vincent returns from the bathroom he finds Mia overdosing on the couch, and frantically drives her to the house of his heroin dealer Lance (Eric Stoltz), in an effort to save her. Lance gets a syringe full of liquid adrenaline, and has Vincent administer it directly into Mia's heart, which instantly resuscitates her, saving her life.
The two return to the Wallace house after the overdose. Embarrassed, Mia asks Vincent not to tell Marsellus about what happened, as it would surely mean big trouble for both of them. She tells Vincent her Fox Force Five joke.
"The Gold Watch"
When the boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) double-crosses Marcellus by winning a rigged fight, Marcellus sends Vincent to kill him. Vincent sees Mia sitting with Marsellus, and Mia thanks him for dinner the day before.
"The Bonnie Situation"
Mia is seen in her bathing suit next to her swimming pool as her husband Marcellus talks to Jules on the phone.
Raven McCoy
Raven McCoy was Mia's character on Fox Force Five. She is the deadliest woman in the world with a knife, raised by circus performers, who knows a massive amount of old jokes she learned from her grandfather, a Vaudeville performer.[11] McCoy is a reference to three X-Men characters. Her first name comes from Raven Darkhölme and her last from Hank McCoy. Her background is the same as Nightcrawler's who was also raised by circus performers.[12][13] The series itself came from The Doll Squad.[14]: 126
Cultural impact
Other portrayals and character inspiration
In 2014, for the 20th anniversary of Pulp Fiction a play was produced based on the films of Tarantino. In it Mia Wallace was played by Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce Willis. Willis rotated the portrayal with Lindsey Gort and Ginifer King on different nights.[15]Lizzy Caplan portrayed Mia in a staged 2014 live reading of the Pulp Fiction screenplay.[16]
Although her character was named "The Blonde Fox" (a different character than Wallace's on Fox Force Five),[11] actress Evan Rachel Wood played a character inspired by Wallace and Thurman's character Beatrix "The Bride" Kiddo from Tarantino's Kill Bill for a 2019 stage musical based on Tarantino's films and featuring music from his films, titled Fox Force Five and the Tyranny of Evil Men.[17] The Blonde Fox was later portrayed by Lindsey Gort in a 2021 version of the play.[18]
Mia's outfit also became one of the most popular Halloween costumes for decades to come.[32] Actress Anya Taylor-Joy stated she has dressed up as Mia multiple times and that it is her "all-time favorite costume."[33] Major retailers including Amazon and Walmart sell Mia Wallace Halloween costumes.[34][35]
Music
In 2012, rapper Wiz Khalifa released the Taylor Allderdice mixtape featuring the track "Mia Wallace".[36] In 2015, the rock band Fall Out Boy released the single "Uma Thurman", influenced by Mia Wallace, The Bride from Kill Bill and Dick Dale's "Misirlou" which was featured in Pulp Fiction.[37] The chorus of the song is about Mia and Vincent Vega's dance scene.[38] Fall Out Boy and Wiz Khalifa performed "Uma Thurman" live at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards featuring 12 dancers dressed as Mia Wallace.[39] In 2017, the French rapper Zola also made a song referring to him named Mia Wallace featuring with 67%.
The Mia-Vincent dance scene was imitated in the films Antz[42] and Be Cool. The latter with Travolta and Thurman again as different characters.[43]
Reception
Critical response
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that Uma Thurman's performance "is marvelous here, seductively scrappy as she teases Vincent."[44]
Character analysis
Ivy O'Shannon wrote that the Mia Wallace we see through the majority of her story in Pulp Fiction is a façade and not the true Mia. She believes Mia moved to Los Angeles to pretend to be the badass she always wished she was. She wanted to be an actress and play characters like Raven McCoy. However, as it didn't work out she married a man who is not only wealthy but also feared. This led to her being sheltered and unseen and so she turned to drugs as a mask and through the mask acts as the badass she wished to play on screen. She wears this mask with Vincent through most of their evening together. O'Shannon concludes that we only see the true Mia after she overdoses on heroin and is resurrected by Vincent. She is resurrected with new perspective allowing the audience to finally see her unmasked.[45][better source needed]
^Kutner, Jon; Leigh, Spencer (2005). "Ch. 5: 1990-1999: 749 – The Spice Girls: Say You'll Be There". 1000 UK Number One Hits. Omnibus Press. ISBN1-84449-283-4.
^Cooper, Patricia (October 7, 1998). "Antz conforms to no normz". CSU Pueblo. Vol. XXVII, no. 7. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022 – via Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection.
