List of characters in Natural Born Killers

This lists the major characters in the 1994 film NATURAL Born Killers. The characters were created by Quentin Tarantino and the film was directed And Co-scripted by Oliver Stone.

Mickey and Mallory Knox

Mickey and Mallory Knox are the protagonists of the film.

Mickey

Mickey is portrayed by Woody Harrelson.

As a child, Mickey witnessed his abusive father's [...]. As an adult, he drifted through a series of menial jobs and stints in prison before he met Mallory while delivering meat to her parents' home, and later stole her father's car. He was quickly arrested and imprisoned for the theft. During a tornado, he escaped from prison, returned to Mallory, and helped her kill her parents. After committing several murders they performed their own wedding ceremony, where they declared their love for one another.

Mallory

Mallory is portrayed by Juliette Lewis.

Mallory was molested by her father (Rodney Dangerfield) and ignored by her mother (Edie McClurg). She met Mickey when she was 18 and fell in love with him. He was soon sent to prison however, on theft charges. He later escaped and re-united with Mallory, and helped her [...] her parents. They spared her little brother, Kevin, the only person besides Mickey she had ever loved.

[...] spree and motives

Mickey and Mallory both spent several weeks roaming the country, [...] at random, eventually claiming 52 victims. Mickey later claimed in prison that he did not believe his victims were worthy of life, and declared himself a "Natural Born Killer".

Signature

Mickey and Mallory's Signature move is to always spare one person so that they can "live to tell the tale" to the media and police. Their witness is chosen at random. One example of this is the opening scene of the film, in which they play eenie meenie miney mo to choose which of the two witnesses they kill. An exception to this is the drugstore scene, in which Mickey kills the clerk despite him being the only person in the store, saying:

"Yeah, but if I don't kill you, what is there to talk AbOUT?"

Capture

After they were both bitten by several snakes while walking through the desert, Mickey and Mallory went to a drugstore in search of some anti-venom. However, they were cornered by the police and threatened into capture by Detective Jack Scagnetti (Tom Sizemore).

Prison and escape

They were both sentenced to life in prison until reporter Wayne Gale decides to interview Mickey after the SUPER Bowl. During the interview, the inmates watching the interview are inspired by Mickey and start a riot in the prison cafeteria. During the riot Mickey and Mallory escape along with Gale, who becomes their last victim when they execute him on live television, the person they spare being the audience. They then disappeared to start a new life.

Alternative ending

Stone also shot an alternate ending where Mickey and Mallory are killed by Owen, but it was not used due to plans for a sequel. This ending can be seen on the DVD, in the Special Features section.

Trivia

• Stone's first choice for Mickey was Michael Madsen but ended up choosing Harrelson after Warner Brothers asked for someone better known and because Quentin Tarantino, original writer of the film and having worked with Madsen before, advised him not to take the role.

Jack Scagnetti

Jack Scagnetti is a fictional character created by Quentin Tarantino for the movie Natural Born Killers. He is portrayed by actor Tom Sizemore.

Role in the movie

Scagnetti is a successful cop who saw his mother killed by Charles Whitman when he was a child. Obsessed with taking revenge against criminals, he became a cop and, eventually, a public hero.

Behind his heroic facade, however, he was a sadistic misogynist and borderline vigilante with nothing but disdain for the law he claimed to uphold. He was also a [...] in his own right, having strangled a prostitute in a fit of rage.

He reached the height of his fame while pursuing Mickey and Mallory. His pursuit of the Knoxes was covered extensively by tabloid reporter Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr.) on his show American Maniacs. He became particularly fixated on Mallory, and his frustrated [...] attraction to her further Fueled his rage. He eventually captured them in a shootout outside a [...] store. He profited immensely from the ensuing media acclaim, even writing a book, Scagnetti on Scagnetti.

A year later, Scagnetti visited Mallory in prison, and tried to seduce her. Mallory attacked him and broke his nose. Meanwhile, Mickey had started a riot in the prison cafeteria in an attempt to escape. During the chaos, Mallory shot and killed Scagnetti.

Trivia

• In Tarantino's movie RESERVOIR Dogs, Mr. Blonde (Vic Vega) tells Joe and Nice Guy Eddie about his parole officer, Scagnetti. Tarantino was likely referencing his original script (NBK had not been adapted yet), but it is not the same character as the dialogue reveals this Scagnetti's name to be Seymour.

• Lewis actually broke Sizemore's nose during the prison confrontation scene.

Wayne Gale

Gale (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a Golden Globe winning Australian journalist who, early in his career, covered international stories such as the U.S. invasion of Grenada. Eventually, however, he settled for hosting American Maniacs, a sensationalistic tabloid news show focusing on serial killers. A vain, opportunistic narcissist, obnoxious Gale has nothing but contempt for his audience ("Repetition works; Do you think the morons out there in zombie land actually remember anything?") and does his job only for perks such as fame, money, and an Asian mistress named Ming. He claims to be a personal friend of Bill Clinton.

Role in the movie

His ratings go through the roof when he focuses his show on Mickey and Mallory. He makes the two killers into international celebrities, all the while becoming incredibly rich and raising his own celebrity profile. When they are caught by Jack Scagnetti, he helps turn the detective into a star, conveniently ignoring the fact that he is completely corrupt and just as violent as the Knoxes.

One year later, on Super Bowl Sunday, Gale InterViews Mickey on live TV. During the interview, Mickey escapes and a riot breaks out, forcing Gale to stop the broadcast. Mickey takes the crew as hostages and tells them to go save Mallory. During the riot, Gale uses the camera to transmit live what happens in the riot. He publicly claims that the riot has spiritually reawakened him, leaves his wife for his mistress (who promptly leaves him), and helps Mickey and Mallory escape from prison.

All of his crew are killed in the ensuing riot from gunfire. After Mallory is saved and they escape from prison, she and Mickey tell Gale that he is going to be their last victim (with his camera as a witness.), both citing the fact that Gale is nothing more than a sleaze who exploits for his own personal gain. Gale panics and tries to run, but eventually resigns himself to his impending death, and allows them to kill him.

Warden Dwight McClusky

Warden Dwight McClusky is a fictional character created by Quentin Tarantino for the movie Natural Born Killers. He is portrayed by actor Tommy Lee Jones.

Role in the movie

McKlusky is the high-strung, foulmouthed prison warden who oversees the lockdown of Mickey and Mallory Knox in the film's third act. A relatively disgusting man in a cheap brown suit with unusual personal grooming because of a pencil-thin mustache and a devil-like hairstyle, McKlusky runs the prison with an iron fist which often leads to completely losing his cool. Ignorant and uncouth, McKluskey clearly loathes the criminals he oversees. His brutality is exemplified in one scene when an inmate lunges at another and McKlusky quickly subdues the man by attaching a pair of pliers to his nostrils and keeping the pliers closed with a wire, before sending him off with the guards.

When the prison is overrun by the prisoners, a heavily panicky McKlusky puts all Guards on Duty to fend off the convicts. His attempt to trap Mickey and Mallory is thwarted by holding a prison guard hostage, who manages to escape and lock the door McKlusky and his men are on the other side. Locked in, dozens of mad convicts come charging at McKlusky and his men when the desperate warden tries climbing up the bars and is pulled away and disappears into a sea of angry prisoners. It is assumed that he is torn to pieces by the prisoners.

Trivia

• In the deleted scenes on the film's DVD release, McKlusky's fate at the end is revealed when he is beheaded offscreen and his head is put on a spike that the prisoners gallantly raise and pass around.