Quentin Tarantino names one of the “biggest regrets” of his life
American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino enjoyed a meteoric rise to success during the 1990s, with movies such as Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction solidifying him as one of the era’s most influential voices. Known for using stylised violence and comedic, lengthy dialogue takes, Tarantino nailed a specific aesthetic that he has carried into subsequent productions, from westerns to war thrillers.
In 2003, Tarantino reunited with Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman for Kill Bill, which featured the actor as The Bride, an assassin seeking revenge on her former leader and members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, who left her for dead while she was pregnant. Furious, she swears to kill them all, embarking on a murderous journey as she fends for her life. The film culminates in a battle with O-Ren Ishii, the leader of the Tokyo yakuza, and her fighters, the Crazy 88s.
However, despite the success of Kill Bill, Tarantino has one regret surrounding its production. In fact, he referred to it as “beyond one of the biggest regrets of my career, it is one of the biggest regrets of my life”. He is referring to the hell he put Thurman through on set, leaving her with life-long trauma due to his insistence that she attempt the stunts herself.
Thurman insisted that she was uncomfortable at the thought of driving the car herself after learning that the vehicle wasn’t functioning too well. “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,'” she told The New York Times.
Thurman explained that Tarantino instructed her to “hit 40 miles per hour or your hair won’t blow the right way, and I’ll make you do it again”. Detailing further, she continued: “But that was a death box that I was in. The seat wasn’t screwed down properly. It was a sand road, and it was not a straight road”. After 15 years, Thurman obtained footage of the crash, which shows the actor attempting to control the car as she drives through unsteady terrain before crashing into a palm tree.
For a few moments, she lays back, struggling to move, before the crew, including Tarantino, rush over and help her out of the car. “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.’ 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.”
She explained: “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”. The bitterness between the pair continued for years. “We had to then go through promoting the movies. It was all very thin ice. We had a fateful fight at Soho House in New York in 2004, and we were shouting at each other because he wouldn’t let me see the footage, and he told me that was what they had all decided.”
This is why Thurman couldn’t access the footage for so long – Miramax only agreed to show her the footage if she signed a deal “releasing them of any consequences of my future pain and suffering”. The actor refused to comply. She added: “Quentin finally atoned by giving it to me after 15 years, right? Not that it matters now, with my permanently damaged neck and my screwed-up knees.”
During an interview with Deadline, Tarantino explained his regrets over the situation, describing it as “just horrible”. He defended his actions, however, claiming that he didn’t demand she did the stunt, despite Thurman’s claims. However, he revealed how he felt when he saw the stunt go wrong: “Watching her fight for the wheel…remembering me hammering about how it was safe and she could do it. Emphasising that it was a straight road, a straight road… the fact that she believed me, and I literally watched this little S curve pop up. And it spins her like a top. It was heartbreaking.”
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