For “Jackie Brown,” Quentin Tarantino abandoned the excessive dialogue he had become famous for, preferring to use a much more naturalistic style that played to the strengths of the characters. Not everyone talks like Tarantino, they speak in their own voice. Samuel L. Jackson’s vocal rhythm as L.A. Kingpin Ordell Robbie became the musical beat of the movie that Pam Grier locked onto during filming. “Quentin told me that Sam had a metronome-like quality that’s really fast, but that I’d have to slow down for Robert [Forster],” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “He warned me that not all actors can do that, so I had to learn.”
Using the natural cadence of actors like Jackson and Forster allowed Tarantino to organically bring out Leonard’s voice from “Rum Punch” without adding too many recognizable touches of his own. “This is in Elmore Leonard’s universe and it was interesting making a movie outside this little universe that I created,” explained Tarantino.
Wanting to differentiate “Jackie Brown” even more from his style of filmmaking, Tarantino changed the look of the film to better compliment Leonard’s established crime world:
“I wanted it to be ultra-realistic. I used a different cinematographer to kind of get a different look. It still looks great but just a little bit more down to earth, a little less like a movie movie, a little bit more like a ’70s ‘Straight Time.'”
Starring Dustin Hoffman as a career burglar out on parole, “Straight Time” really does look visually similar to “Jackie Brown” in spots, especially in a few office scenes that closely resemble Max Cherry’s Bail Bonds business. Tarantino also filmed “Jackie Brown” entirely on location in L.A. and shot the film with a 1.85:1 ratio, the only time he’s used the format for one of his features.