Before Quentin Tarantino rose to fame as one of the most influential writers and directors in Hollywood, he harbored aspirations of becoming an actor. Interestingly, even today, he sometimes exhibits a lingering desire to perform on screen. However, the journey to land an acting role can feel like a catch-22: it’s challenging to secure roles without a solid resume, yet building that resume typically requires prior acting experience. This led Tarantino to embellish his qualifications, famously claiming he had a minor part in the 1978 cult classic Dawn of the Dead.

As the noted horror enthusiast Tarantino shared in an early episode of The Video Archives Podcast with Roger Avary, he included Dawn of the Dead on his initial resume to give it some credibility since roles from that era were difficult to verify. He recounted a memorable scene involving a young man on a motorcycle, suggesting a resemblance to himself: “There’s a young man in the movie. There’s one of the motorcycle guys. He’s got shaggy hair like I had at the time and he’s got a Tommy gun and he’s in the sidecar of the motorcycle apparatus. And the guy doesn’t really look like me, he looks more like John Johnson…But he looks like he could be me. He has the same kind of brown hair…I was wearing leather all the time and we were more or less the same age…” It’s amusing to note that one can see this character for long enough in the film to realize Tarantino was spinning a tall tale. Below is a clip showcasing his supposed character causing chaos in the mall.

Years later, after Tarantino secured a job at Video Archives—well after the release of Dawn of the Dead—he met a passionate individual named Roger Avary, who was arguably the biggest fan of George A. Romero on the planet. The atmosphere at Video Archives was ripe with fellow horror film enthusiasts, and Tarantino decided to turn his fabricated story into an acting exercise. He attempted to convince this circle of horror aficionados that it was indeed plausible he could have made an appearance. Although they likely should have called him out on his tall tale, they entertained the idea for a few years. Eventually, Tarantino admitted the truth. One of his friends remarked, “I knew that wasn’t you but I’m kinda bummed now. I mean, I knew it wasn’t you but having you say it is like a real f*cking bummer.” Ironically, many years later, Tarantino did get to work with Romero, making a cameo in the 2007 film Diary of the Dead. Although it was just a voice role, one can easily imagine him donning leather in the recording booth.

In addition to Dawn of the Dead, Tarantino also included Jean-Luc Godard’s King Lear from 1987 on his resume. After achieving success with Reservoir Dogs, this unrevised resume circulated widely. This was the moment when his fabrications gained national attention, as film critic Leonard Maltin reviewed King Lear on his show and commented, “Oh, and look for a quick cameo by a very young Quentin Tarantino…I might as well have been in the f*cking movie…” This incident illustrates how even the most ambitious dreams can intertwine with creativity and, at times, deception.