Icons Unearthed: Quentin Tarantino

As a broke video store clerk with an encyclopedic knowledge of film, young gun Quentin Tarantino tries to turn his heist script, Reservoir Dogs, into a $50,000 movie.

Hot off his indie hit Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino faces rising expectations, in response, he doubles down on his trademarks - pushing the violence, drug use, and bold, nonlinear storytelling further with his sophomore smash-hit, Pulp Fiction.

Now with an Oscar under his belt and more popularity than he could've imagined, those same studios that once passed on Tarantino's scripts scramble to do business with him.

Rooted in their love of kung-fu movies, Tarantino and Uma Thurman came up with a revenge saga inspired by martial arts and exploitation cinema that took nearly 10 years to fully realize. Thus, was born Kill Bill, Tarantino's most ambitious movie yet.