4. Michael Madsen (Vincent Vega, Pulp Fiction)
Pulp Fiction is widely attributed with resurrecting John Travolta's flagging career, returning his status as box office dynamite, yet the role of Vincent Vega was not initially his; Tarantino, who had worked with Michael Madsen on Reservoir Dogs, planned to cast him in this role, yet scheduling conflicts with the actor's work on Wyatt Earp meant that he had to turn it down. Tarantino promptly deferred to Travolta, and the rest is history. However, Harvey Weinstein was extremely nervous about casting Travolta, famously suggesting that Tarantino could cast pretty much anyone else in the role who wasn't the Grease star. The studio head even recommended the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis for the role, something which in retrospect must surely seem ridiculous even in the eyes of Weinstein himself. Tarantino and Travolta, it seems, completely proved their critics wrong.