Patricia Arquette Remembers Asking Her 'True Romance' Director to Slap Her

Patricia Arquette just won her first Oscar for Boyhood, but one of her most enduring roles was in a film that earned zero Oscars and bombed at the box office. True Romance, written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott, has become a true cult classic in the 22 years since its 1993 release. The film stars Arquette as Alabama, a prostitute who is equal parts tough and naïve, and Christian Slater as Clarence, a pop-culture nerd who believes he hears the voice of Elvis. The two fall in love overnight and embark on an epic crime spree involving murder, drugs, and a roller coaster. Arquette goes to some very dark places over the course of True Romance (she manages to kill James Gandolfini’s hit man, for one), and in a new interview with Buzzfeed, she describes the shocking way that director Tony Scott helped her get there.

“[Tony Scott] did slap me before the scene on the billboard,” says Arquette, referencing a scene in which Alabama reveals her true feelings to Clarence. “But he didn’t just run up and slap me! I was really frustrated about getting emotionally to where I wanted in that scene. He said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I was saying, ‘I’m just pissed off at myself. I can’t get to where I want.” He was like, “Do you want me to smack you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, maybe you should smack me!’ So yeah. It was mutual and agreed upon.”

Scott, who died in 2012, told his own version of the story on the DVD commentary and then to Maxim in 2008. “Patricia used to call my right hand ‘the Persuader.’ She’d say, ‘Bring on the Persuader,’ and I’d have to slap her,” the director recalled. “She’d say, ‘Hit me harder!’ I’d stand there on the set giving Patricia right-handers. That does not happen a lot with me and actors.”

Arquette assures Buzzfeed that Scott wasn’t abusive. “Oh my god, the guy loved me to death. The guy was the most supportive director I’ve ever had,” she gushed. “Every single idea I had on that movie, he’d say, ‘That is brilliant!’ There were, like, two times that he said, ‘I don’t know about that idea.’ Then we’d shoot it, and he’d go, ‘You know what, Bama was right, we’re going to shoot it her way.’ And every time Christian would have an idea, he would go, ‘That’s a terrible idea, Christian.’ And Christian was, like, ‘What the f—-? Every time Patricia has an idea you say it’s great!’”

“I felt so loved and supported by him,” Arquette added. “I know that sounds very weird that he smacked me. It’s not something I’ve ever experienced with anyone else.”

Watch the trailer for True Romance: