Uma Thurman is an absolutely splendid actress, and there’s no doubt about it. From action to horror to rom-coms – the stunning beauty has won numerous hearts by showcasing her extensive range as an actress. But while the Beautiful Girls star isn’t one to back down from doing whatever her part requires of her, it seems that some directors just might have misused this special quality about her.
This includes the legendary director, Quentin Tarantino, who’s renowned for being one of the biggest cinematic ‘tyrants’. As it turns out, the Kill Bill filmmaker made Thurman do a highly dangerous stunt for the movie, and his close pal Harvey Weinstein, who owned Miramax studios at the time, forced the actress to not hold either of them liable for damages after the fateful crash occurred.
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Quentin Tarantino Made Uma Thurman Do A Very Dangerous Stunt For Kill Bill: Volume 2
This dates back to the early 2000s when Kill Bill: Volume 2 was in production. Playing the nameless bride who decides to take revenge on the team of assassins of whom she used to be a member of, and who tried to kill her at her wedding, Uma Thurman had done a fairly well role to make the movie a masterpiece. But it wasn’t only the actress’s sweat that helped make the movie a superhit, but her blood as well.
In the film, there was a stunt scene where Thurman’s character had to drive a Volkswagon Karmann Ghia at 40 miles per hour so that her hair would fly in the wind. Making an unusually impossible request, director Quentin Tarantino asked her to do the scene herself. Recalling the incident and how terrified she was about the entire situation, the Beautiful Girls star said,
“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.’ 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.”
She even revealed how Tarantino threatened to make her do the scene again if she didn’t agree to do it in the first place, thus getting her to agree. But as presumed, the fateful accident did end up taking place, and Thurman found herself in a near-to-death situation.
“The steering wheel was at my belly and my legs were jammed under me,” said Thurman. “I felt this searing pain and thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m never going to walk again.”
Even imagining a scene like this where a person is in a situation that almost gets them killed is more than enough to make anyone shudder. However, Uma Thurman‘s tragic experience didn’t just end there.
Miramax Studios Forced Uma Thurman To Not Hold Them Liable For Damages
After Uma Thurman got released from the hospital, she and her husband at the time, Ethan Hawke, both went to confront Tarantino, who was ‘very upset with himself’, for how he nearly got her killed. The filmmaker, however, only asked for forgiveness. Thurman recalls,
“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.”
If that wasn’t enough, the film’s distributor, Harvey Weinstein‘s Miramax, even tried to force her to sign off that she would not hold either of them responsible for the damages caused when Thurman asked for the footage of the crash. But the actress of course didn’t sign it and ended up not seeing it for nearly 15 years.
Nevertheless, Uma Thurman thankfully recovered and was blessed with the ability to walk again. But something else was damaged worse, which could not be recovered in any way – the trust between her and Quentin Tarantino.
You can stream the Kill Bill movie series on Amazon Instant Video.
Source: Slash Film
