The eyes of Michael Madsen

There are some actors who were born to act in Tarantino films, who can get their tongue around his stylized dialogue and make it sing. The director's words always sound best when coming out of the mouths of Samuel L Jackson, Christoph Waltz and the late, great Michael Parks.

But the main appeal one reoccurring actor wasn't about the dialogue, because all the soul in the world could be found in Michael Madsen's eyes.

It was deeply sad to hear that Madsen had passed away recently, because he was a fantastic actor, who would appear in all sorts of rubbish, but then get the call from Quentin and produce something mesmerizing for the director.

Madsen always did something soulful, and was always the best at expressing a specific type of macho heartbreak. Right from the start, you actually feel sorry to see him blown away in Reservoir Dogs, even though he had just tortured somebody, because Mr Blonde had some kind of black heart to him.

His few scenes in the Kill Bill movies are so good - the way he eats shit at the strip club, even though he knows he could murder everyone there with the slightest of effort, but also knowing that he deserves to eat it, for all the terrible things he has done. When he tells his brother that the Bride deserves her revenge, and they all deserve to die for what they have done, you absolutely believe it.

And he was wonderful in the Hateful Eight, even just sitting in the corner, writing some shit down and chewing on some nuts. He looks genuinely hurt when accused of being a bandit - even though he quite clearly is - and when it all finally reaches a crescendo, he moves like a dancer when he reacts, kicking away the chair with such grace to take his shot.

It's a tragedy that we won't see that collaboration again, because those eyes of Michael Madsen were made to look out of those movies.