While Uma Thurman may have starred in two of Quentin Tarantino’s highest-grossing films of his career with Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, the actress revealed that while there had been talks to reprise her character for a third installment, it certainly wasn’t something she would even consider signing up for.
The shocking comments made in her interview with The New York Times came as the actress claimed that Tarantino had allegedly mistreated her on the set of one of the movies by refusing to let a stunt double film a dangerous scene that left her “permanently damaged.”
Thurman recalled to the publication how she suffered from bruises and damage to her neck and knees after she failed to give a flawless execution of the stunt, despite the fact that she instructed Tarantino to use a body double instead, having already feared that there was a chance she wouldn’t be able to master the car scene by herself.
What Did Uma Thurman Say About Quentin Tarantino?
Before performing the stunt, where Thurman is seen driving her blue convertible in the 2003 flick, the award-winning actress was told beforehand that the vehicle was not working that well after being converted to automatic for the purpose of the movie.
Of course, hearing that left the mother-of-three on the edge and she didn’t hesitate to ask Tarantino whether the stunt could be performed by a stunt double instead. His answer, however, was a simple “no.”
“Quentin came in my trailer and didn’t like to hear no, like any director. He was furious because I’d cost them a lot of time. But I was scared. He said: ‘I promise you the car is fine. It’s a straight piece of road.’”
Once Thurman saw the road she would be driving the vehicle on, she soon realized that the scene was being filmed on a sand road, which of course was the complete opposite of what the Hollywood veteran had told her back in her trailer.
But considering the tension that had already formed between the two over her initial request not to perform the stunt, Thurman agreed to the scene anyway, which she later described as one of her biggest regrets.
In a disturbing video clip acquired by the NYT, Thurman is seen losing control of the vehicle before crashing into a palm tree.
“The steering wheel was at my belly and my legs were jammed under me. I felt this searing pain and thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m never going to walk again.’”
Considering how she had already expressed her concerns about the scene, the blonde beauty was furious with her director as she insisted he had “tried to kill me,” which Tarantino strongly denied.
The latter, who was also left in shock after witnessing the scene turn into shambles, was convinced that the car was in good enough condition to have Thurman drive it for no more than a couple of minutes, yet those few minutes almost ended up costing the actress her life.
“When I came back from the hospital in a neck brace with my knees damaged and a large massive egg on my head and a concussion, I wanted to see the car and I was very upset. Quentin and I had an enormous fight, and I accused him of trying to kill me. And he was very angry at that, I guess understandably, because he didn’t feel he had tried to kill me.”
It would take Thurman 15 years before she would get her hands on the footage after Miramax allegedly made her an offer to hand her the video on the request that she sign a document “releasing them of any consequences of my future pain and suffering,” which she refused.
Just days after Thurman’s bombshell interview, Tarantino gave one of his own to Deadline, telling the news outlet that having Thurman perform the stunt was undoubtedly one of the biggest regrets of his life.
"Beyond one of the biggest regrets of my career, it is one of the biggest regrets of my life. For a myriad of reasons.”
By July 2019, however, it appeared as if things were better between Thurman and Tarantino after the director admitted he had been thinking about developing a third installment of the martial arts movie, and there appeared to be a possibility that his lead star could be interested in signing on to reprise her role as The Bride after all.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the 57-year-old explained: “Me and Uma have been talking about it recently, frankly, to tell you the truth. I’m not sure I’m going to do it but I have thought about it a little further. If any of my movies were going to spring from any of my movies, it would be the third Kill Bill.”