When starting a professional career, whatever it may be, you have to start somewhere. Sometimes doing very strange things. Even the winner of two Academy Awards, Quentin Tarantino, has a first credit as a director for something quite bizarre: a fitness training video starring Dolph Lundgren.
Starting with the toughest
It was 1986, and Lundgren, after achieving worldwide fame thanks to his role in the Rocky franchise, decided to capitalize on his popularity with a fitness video titled Maximum Potential. In the midst of the 80s craze for home workout videos, a market dominated by figures like Jane Fonda, Dolph Lundgren did not want to be left out of the business. With a combination of exercises ranging from boxing, yoga, and even stress management techniques. Maximum Potential promised to get anyone in shape, all from the comfort of their living room and with slow-motion shots that have nothing to envy the beginning of each episode of Baywatch. This is where a young Quentin Tarantino comes in and gets his first professional credit as a production assistant. Sounds great, but in reality his job consisted of tasks far from the glamour of directing, like picking up dog excrement from the filming location.
Image: Reddit, 80sdesign
The path to maximum potential
The scene took place in Venice Beach, apparently an idyllic place that, despite being the setting for many series of the time, had a small problem: it was full of “dog shit,” as Tarantino himself would remember years later. Although his role in this production was quite modest, his experience picking up excrement was so memorable that, years later, as a seasoned director, he put into practice the same promise he made at that time: if he ever found himself in a similar situation as a director, he would help his own assistants with those tasks. And he kept his word on the set of Pulp Fiction, where apparently he didn’t hesitate to get his hands dirty to help his team.
The film industry is full of similar stories, where great filmmakers started in the most unexpected corners of the industry. However, few can boast of having worked on something as “peculiar” as Maximum Potential. And while his work on this film did not involve writing scripts or directing actors, in a way, it prepared him for what was to come. Can you do anything worse than picking up feces? Over the years, Tarantino not only reached his “maximum potential,” but also became a legend in cinema.
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