20 Things You Didn't Know About Jackie Brown

With the film in the can, ready to debut, Tarantino still had doubts. This was the first time he had not been there at the birth of the process, and his personal history with Leonard's novels throughout his childhood made him especially fearful that he'd failed his hero.

So for the first four weeks of the film's release, he attended 13 different screenings at the Magic Johnson Theatre. "I just lived there," he said.

And reaction was positive, with several critics noting that it was Tarantino's most mature film to date. It didn't have the chronological gimmickry that served Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs so well, it was a straightforward narrative and, to this day, it remains unlike any other film the director has made.

We don't know what the filmmaker will do in the near future, he floats ideas to the press as quickly as he abandons them (the most recent being the Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood novelization he intends to write but probably never will), but it's unlikely he'll revisit the same well more than once.

Whatever the case, Jackie Brown was a bit of a watershed moment for Leonard and Forster, whose careers were never off-track, just not as recognized as they should be.