Watching Uma Thurman crash her car after telling Quentin Tarantino she didn’t want to drive will enrage you
Uma Thurman recently opened up about her experience of sexual assault at the hands of Harvey Weinstein to The New York Times, and her story will shock you in more ways than one. Not only did Weinstein reportedly attack the actress in 1994 following the release of Pulp Fiction, Thurman says the incident changed her relationship with Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino. This led to an accident on the set of Kill Bill that was not only terrifying, but downright dehumanizing.
In the iconic scene where Thurman is driving a blue convertible to kill Bill, Tarantino asked the actress to do the driving herself. However, someone on set told her the car might not be working properly, and she asked for a stunt double to do it.
“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. Hit 40 miles per hour or your hair won’t blow the right way and I’ll make you do it again.’ But that was a deathbox that I was in. The seat wasn’t screwed down properly. It was a sand road and it was not a straight road.”
Watch the chilling video of the accident here.
In the footage, Thurman is driving down a narrow dirt road with the wind blowing her hair. After a few turns, you can see her fight to control the car as it begins to swerve back and forth. Suddenly, she smashes into a palm tree. Thrown back against the seat, Thurman clutches her head until crew members appear. She remains in the vehicle as Tarantino arrives, who leans over the side of the car to speak with her. The actress smiles as she stands, clearly relieved her legs were still working, then a crew member carries her out of the frame.
“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,” Thurman said about the accident. “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.”
Understandably, Twitter expressed its outrage about the video.
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This detail about what Quentin Tarantino did to Uma Thurman on the set of Kill Bill is profoundly disturbing. And it's hardly the worst of what she had to deal with. https://t.co/hjWW3OWOnP pic.twitter.com/Hd8s7jadhk
— Geraldine (@everywhereist) February 3, 2018
She tried to get footage of the incident two weeks later, but Weinstein’s company, Miramax, balked. They offered it to Thurman only if she signed a document “releasing them of any consequences of my future pain and suffering.” Understandably, she refused. Now, fifteen years later, the footage is out.
Uma Thurman hinted in November 2017 that her experience with Weinstein and Miramax was rage-inducing, and we definitely don’t blame her. After watching this video, we’re angry too. We’re with you, Uma.