Tarantino Preps 'Pulp' Prequel

March 21 -- Where, oh where has Quentin Tarantino gone? According to New York magazine, the motor-mouthed indie auteur is looking to return to his two biggest hits by resurrecting characters from Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.

The magazine reports that John Travolta and Michael Madsen have committed to star in The Vega Brothers, a prequel to both films that would follow the characters of Vincent Vega (played by Travolta in Pulp) and Vic Vega, aka Mr. Blonde, Madsen's ear-slicing psycho in Dogs. Any adventure involving the two Vegas would have to be a prequel, since they both met with violent ends in their respective pics.

Well, if anyone can make the post-Battlefield Earth Travolta cool again, it just might be Tarantino, who saved the actor from Look Who's Talking ignominy by relaunching him as a dancing, heroin-shooting hit man in 1994's Pulp Fiction. A rep for Madsen (who co-stars, for now, on CBS's Big Apple) confirmed the project to the magazine, adding that filming would begin after Tarantino wraps Glorious Bastards in France, in which Madsen also co-stars.

Tarantino is also reported to be reteaming with another Pulp Fiction star, Uma Thurman, whom he'll direct in the revenge tale Kill Bill.