All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S13E04.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-Kitsune_track3_[eng]

They call it, uh,
the Royale with Cheese.

Quentin
Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction"

hit the zeitgeist
like a lightning bolt.

I said goddamn.

He broke all the rules.

- I know how good it is.
- Kneel down.

This is so out there.

While
"Jackie Brown's" response

felt more like a static shock.

Falsely accused of intent.

Audiences wanted "Pulp
Fiction" or "Reservoir Dogs,"

and it's neither of those.

Boring, isn't it?

I can sit through it once.

Tarantino took six years off,

because he said that
he was too famous.

He felt like he was
chasing "Pulp Fiction."

It's about the journey.

It's not about the destination.

The auteur
came roaring back

with his biggest--

Kung fu epic.

It was the
longest script ever.

Bloodiest.

Always had blood
flying, blood splats,

blood coming outta this,
blood coming out of that.

You're one
blood-spattered angel.

I had to not look.

Most dangerous.

I'd counted the bruises
over my body and had 30.

I couldn't breathe

and I was like, I
might actually die.

Most ambitious.

An international crew,
an international cast.

But there
would be challenges.

Put together a schedule.

They nearly fired
me on the spot.

Police showed up.

And challengers.

I think Harvey may
have killed that.

He's Harvey Weinstein,
for Christ's sake.

He was scary.

We were getting beat
up behind the scenes

by the Miramax executives.

We're all about to
get put to the test

in every way possible.

Wiggle your big toe.

"Kill
Bill" could either mark

the return of the king-

Tarantino took six years off.

Wakey wakey.

Miramax wanted to find out

if he's still a
viable asset for 'em.

Priceless.

That was gonna
be the big test.

Or the end
of Tarantino's reign.

A box office flop.

It's the movie he
was born to make.

Natural born killer.

It's all of his loves,
his passions, desires.

His references are
all in "Kill Bill."

And we let 'em think
we don't like it.

It's the ultimate
Tarantino film.

Baby, you ain't kidding.

Uma took off.

The car was going
35 miles an hour,

and the camera was
mounted behind her head.

She's a badass behind
the wheel of a dope car.

She didn't wanna
drive the car.

It was very fucked up.

While
filming "Pulp Fiction--"

Uma Thurman began to experience
an existential crisis.

While they were
making "Pulp Fiction,"

Thurman said overtly that
she wasn't sure about acting.

That was my 15 minutes.

She wasn't sure
if it was a career

that she really
wanted to stick with.

Quentin Tarantino,

he was a little
disturbed by this.

He wanted to sort of assure
her that she had a future.

Tarantino's bait
to keep Uma in the game?

A new project.

And they started kind of
talking about this idea.

He's got such
passion and enthusiasm.

He's not a person
you can say no to.

This spitball began

with her character Mia Wallace,

but became much more.

'Cause the character
of Mia Wallace,

she herself was an actor.

I heard you did a pilot.

About this cool gang
of deadly kick-ass women.

It was a show about a team

of female secret agents
called Fox Force Five.

Tarantino
was inspired

by the very real 1975
television movie-

"Force-Five."

I thought it was
more of a cult.

As well as the
70s girls with guns movement.

What's the name of the island?

These
combined influences

would inspire more
than just a footnote

in "Pulp Fiction."

Part of the genesis
of "Kill Bill"

is the Fox Force Five dialogue.

Fox, as in we're a
bunch of foxy chicks.

Force, as in we're a
force to be reckoned with.

And five is in there's
one, two, three,

four, five of us.

They kind of started
discussing, you know,

well, what if we
could do a movie

that was kind of like that,

but was rooted very much

in those Blaxploitation cinema?

Gonna blow the back
of your head off.

A female revenge film.

Of the 70s, 60s, 80s.

And Hong Kong
martial arts cinema.

During the shoot
of "Pulp Fiction,"

they kept kind of
like throwing ideas

around to each other,

and they started to talk
about this character idea.

And Tarantino had
this sort of image

of how to open the film.

Black
and white, closeup,

woman lying on the
floor looking up.

And that's how
we first see her.

But Uma thought,

what if the massacre happened--

- At my wedding.
- He loved it.

Bill.

Tarantino instantly
says, "Kill Bill."

That's the name of the movie.

So he comes up with the name

and comes up with who
the villain's going to be

without truly knowing
the whole stakes

at which they're
gonna play with.

He'd been reading
this script to me

as he was writing it,

and it was a constant
back and forth.

By the end of that shoot,

Tarantino had about 30 pages,

the start of a script.

But soon,
Tarantino's attention

would turn to another woman.

Jackie Brown.

And while Pam Grier

might be the queen
of revenge films,

Jackie Brown was--

Such a love story between
Robert Forrester and Pam Grier.

I'll send you a postcard.

Saving his
revenge for Uma, only--

Jackie Brown gets kind
of pushed to the side

by some people, not by
critics, but by some fans.

He got a little beat up by it.

But he also knew that
people were gonna try

to pigeonhole him into, "Is
this the next "Pulp Fiction"?

So he didn't worry about it.

But I wasn't trying
to crank it up for that.

Quentin focused
more on writing.

Focus,
as it turns out,

would be a problem
for Tarantino.

So, you know, he mentioned
a Western set in a prison.

But soon there
would be a shiny new idea.

Like a British crime movie.

Oh,
wait, another idea.

A "Pulp Fiction." Pre-cool.

Spends years
writing these scripts

thinking about
something else also.

Unlike some people
who get writer's block,

he actually gets
writer's diarrhea.

Oh, the toilet is at it again.

He's got that script
rolling in his head,

rolling his head.

There are plenty
of cures for writer's block.

Sadly, modern medicine has
failed writer's diarrhea.

He just can't stop.

He just, ideas keep
coming and keep coming.

They never really
came to anything.

After courting several ideas,

Tarantino realized
what needed to be done.

I am gonna "Kill Bill."

Not quite yet.

Tarantino ended up
obsessively working

on the World War II movie.

He worked on that for years.

I've been waiting a long time.

He just ended up getting
bigger and bigger and bigger.

Tarantino
kept writing

in hopes of an ending
that never came.

He couldn't finish it.

He had to set that aside.

We wait.

And there
was no better place

to wait things out than--

Miramax Oscar party.

It was there
Quentin's muse appeared.

Uma was there.

Since
"Pulp Fiction,"

Uma's career was blooming.

Poison Ivy.

She was in
demand and working nonstop.

She said to him, "Hey Quentin,

whatever happened
to 'Kill Bill?'"

So he went back and he pulled
out that 30 page script.

He looked through
it and he went,

"Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I can do this."

To make
sure this script

actually had an ending,
Tarantino gave himself--

A deadline.

And not
just any deadline.

He phoned up
Thurman and he said,

"Right, I'm gonna write
this by your birthday.

It's gonna be a
birthday present."

So he had until the end
of April to write it.

Whether we were
laughing or arguing

or whatever was going on,

that the doing of this
character together

was like a continuation of
a really long conversation.

When it
came to story ideas,

he knew exactly where
to lift inspiration.

One of the plot strands

that he had had for
"Inglourious Basterds"

was the character of Shosanna.

I have a message for Germany.

You know, she had
like a kill list

that she saw as responsible
for the death of her family.

You are all going to die.

That came from "Kill Bill,"

went into
"Inglourious Basterds,"

then came out of
"Inglourious Basterds,"

went back to "Kill Bill."

With a rapidly
approaching deadline--

He thought it'd be quite
a small, short movie.

It took him 15 months.

In those 15 months,

Tarantino began
to explore genres

beyond grindhouse
revenge flicks.

He is such a cinephile.

He had a huge love
of Chinese cinema.

Kung fu movies.

Japanese samurai.

Spaghetti Western.

Mostly, I guess,
eastern influences.

There's "Lady Snowblood."

Just so many things
that got thrown in there.

It's a list as long as your arm.

He saw the greatness
in these genres,

decided to combine them
to pay homage to them.

Wherever he's going

with his switching of genres,

changing of tableau style,

my job was to make sure
that I stayed anchored.

As Quentin continued
to shuffle between genres,

more genres meant more
three hole punched pages.

222 pages.

It was long.

Most scripts
are like 120, 110.

222 pages is a lot of--

Writer's diarrhea.

And the reason?

Not only am I telling a story,

I'm also creating a mythology.

He's like, "No, this is how
I want to tell my stories."

And it became this huge, big,

sprawling pushing
four hours thing.

Between--

Writer's diarrhea.

Quentin writes what
he calls the Bible.

For most
writers, delivering a script

of that size would
be career suicide.

You don't have a future.

Quentin has the ability to
hand a script in like that

because the producers know him

and he's got a track record.

And in "Kill Bill," there
was a lot of story to tell.

Tarantino finished the script.

He goes back to
Thurman and says,

"Hey, I've got it
now. We can do it."

In return,
Uma had news for Quentin.

She was pregnant.

She couldn't do it.

Great for Uma,
not so much for Quentin,

and definitely not for
producer Harvey Weinstein.

You know, they
talked about Miramax

being the house
that Quentin built.

The 90s, Tarantino's
got either a project

he's written or directed
that is coming out

that feels like
every other year.

But
the 90s were over.

His cash cow, Quentin
Tarantino took six years off.

Which means
it had been five years

since that Tarantino
sized payday.

Harvey didn't
want to wait longer.

He's feeling like,

hey, let's get this movie out.

You know, he wants to find out

if he's still a
viable asset for him.

The Weinsteins sort of leaned
on him to recast the role.

And Weinstein
knew exactly who he wanted

to take Uma's place.

He wanted Daryl Hannah
to play The Bride.

I'll be there soon.

And Quentin said,
"No, no, no, no, no."

Oh, you don't owe her shit.

Quentin Tarantino

and Harvey Weinstein
were in a standoff

and it remained to be seen
who would blink first.

Uma's not playing The Bride,

then "Kill Bill"
does not get made.

On the
way to production,

"Kill Bill" hit a
baby bump in the road

with Uma Thurman.

When they were getting ready

to start the shoot,
she was pregnant.

Congratulations.

So when
Harvey suggested

Quentin recast The Bride-

He was like, "No, this
is a movie with Q&U."

She created the
character with Tarantino.

She gets the credit
in the story for helping

to create the
character of The Bride.

He was not gonna do
it with anyone else

other than Thurman.

He's one of the few people

that Weinsteins would bow to.

Weinstein conceded,

pushing production a year,

which meant more
time for casting.

Everyone wants to be
in a Tarantino film.

When it came to casting,

Tarantino didn't
look to Hollywood,

but rather Hollywood video.

Quentin Tarantino
was in the video store

when we had those.

And he said he was walking by

and saw my film "Two
Can Play That Game."

The color of red on the cover

of the DVD caught his attention.

Oh, hey.

And he said he
turned and looked

and said, "Vivica Fox."

Mm-mm.

To
which Vivica said--

Yes!

But it
wouldn't be that easy.

"So I'm gonna give
you an audition,

but my style of
auditioning is different.

I'm gonna come to your house."

I think Quentin,
his audition style

is that he wants to make sure

that you come from a
stable environment.

"I wanna audition you,

and I wanna audition
you in your kitchen."

So when do we do this?

Kitchens
seem to hold

a special place in
Quentin's heart.

You gonna make
some phone calls?

His Academy Award is on
the counter in the kitchen.

It's just sitting there,
surrounded by dirty dishes.

And as for
Vivica's kitchen audition.

They called and said,
"You got the role."

Thank you, Lord!

Oh my goodness.

You shout to the heavens.

Not everyone had
to audition in a kitchen.

Some didn't even
need to audition.

When he loves his heroes,

if he's able to put
them into his movies,

he absolutely goes
out and does it.

And
Tarantino's fandom

can be seen throughout his work.

Basically, I'm just
gonna walk the earth.

What you mean walk the earth?

You know, like
Caine in "Kung Fu."

Better known as-

David Carradine.

I'm the man.

Well, the funny
thing about David

is he, you know, I
mean he was "Kung Fu."

Carradine
started acting

the year Quentin was born,

and had over 240 credits,

including the dystopian action
movie "Death Race 2000,"

and the TV series "Kung Fu."

But he didn't really
know martial arts.

Gotcha.

He knew the moves of it,

and he could make
it look really good,

but he didn't really
know what he was doing.

This picture, I was
working my ass off--

Can I say that?

All the way through.

You don't settle down,

I'm gonna have to put
one in your kneecap.

So
casting a real master

of martial arts would lead to--

Oh my
God, Sonny Chiba.

Who's Sonny Chiba?

"Street Fighter," "Return
of the Street Fighter."

And it
just so happened,

"Kill Bill" featured
a character named-

Hattori Hanzo.

You see where this is going?

Sonny Chiba plays
Hattori Hanzo.

Real people are talked
about in Tarantino films,

and all of a sudden they
show up in his films.

It was 'cause he
loves these people.

They were idols of his,

and he was able to use
his power at the time

to give them a
rebirth in cinema.

You know who else

tends to show up
in Tarantino films?

Me.

People
in Tarantino films.

Mr. Blonde.

Quentin puts a stack
of papers in front of me.

He goes, "Go ahead,
you read that."

I read it and he goes,

"Okay, that's it, your Budd."

There's
just one problem.

And he goes,
"What am I gonna do?

I gave Michael
Parks the part."

Michael
Parks had appeared

in "From Dusk Till Dawn."

I think I'm going
to get tanked tonight.

And was on his way

to becoming a Tarantino regular.

Well, I guess you
better tell him.

Not wanting
to burn the Parks bridge,

Tarantino decided
to call an audible.

Give me a figure.

Mike has two
parts in the movie.

He's the sheriff.

This ain't no
squirrelly amateur.

Then he runs the
whorehouse in Mexico.

Only on the condition
that you call me Esteban.

And while Harvey
couldn't cast Daryl Hannah,

The Bride wasn't the
only roll up for grabs.

Elle Driver, who was
one of the other divas.

While the
cinema has no shortage

of one-eyed killers,

Tarantino was
particularly inspired by--

"They Call Her One Eye."

Which was like a
triple X Swedish movie.

It was banned in the UK,

at least until the early 90s.

It
remains to be seen

if Harvey insisted
Hannah get the role.

But one actress
insists it was Harvey

that insisted she
did not get the role.

Quentin talked to me
about doing "Kill Bill"

and the Daryl Hannah part.

There was a period like he
actually wanted me in that role.

I think, I think Harvey
may have killed that.

I was meeting Harvey at
the Beverly Hills Hotel.

I'm supposed to meet
him in the Polo Lounge.

"Mr. Weinstein will
meet you upstairs."

And I was like, mm,

like immediately like
eh, that's weird.

"Go up."
My heart was racing,

as soon as it was
like danger, danger.

So I knew not to
go in that room.

That
was fucking trippy.

One battle
Quentin wasn't going to lose

was the role given to--

Lucy Liu.

Now if any of
you sons of bitches

got anything else to say,
now's the fucking time.

I just try to
make the characters

as three-dimensional
as I possibly can.

It's important to make sure

that the character is likable.

Even if she did
something in the past

that wasn't such a
great idea at the time.

Silly rabbit.

Trix are for-
Kids.

And "Kill
Bill's" action sequences

were going to be no playground

if Tarantino was to achieve-

Astonishing stunts mixed
with the martial arts.

He would need to
go straight to the source.

And so began legend.

He liked Jackie
Chan's first movies,

more stylized fighting.

The secret
behind Jackie Chan's movies?

Yuen Woo-ping.

- Otherwise known as--
- Master Woo.

And
what did he know?

I know kung fu.

He was in Australia
working on "The Matrix."

He is the master of
martial arts cinema.

The
Hong Kong filmmaker

was reluctant to
work with Westerners,

but Master Woo's collaboration

with the Wachowskis
gave Quentin hope.

The next day, we're
in a conference room

and Quentin's literally
like throwing himself

on the ground and acting
out the various sequences

in the film for Yuen Woo-ping.

Yuen Woo-ping said yes.

With
Woo-ping lined up,

it was time to find
who'd get wired up.

My name is Zoe,
that, but I know

Stunt person, actress, friend.

Hollywood just seemed
unattainable to me.

Somehow I heard that
there was an audition

for "Kill Bill."

Tryouts were held

in Tarantino's
training facility,

as there wasn't enough room-

In my kitchen.

I remember walking
to the audition,

I look across, Daryl Hannah,
I saw Uma, I met Quentin.

I had no intention
of getting the job.

What am I doing here?

Quentin
wasn't looking

for the perfect
stunt double, rather--

When I ate shit
and laughed about it

and then ate shit again,

Quentin was like,
"She'll do," you know.

Read the script and was like,

"Wait, so what is all this
I'm possibly gonna do?"

And then I read it again,

and I'm like, "I don't know
how we're gonna do it but--"

Training.

They literally turned
us into a killing machine.

"Kill
Bill" had the potential

to show Quentin Tarantino
in a whole new light.

"Kill Bill" is
that moment in time

that he distanced himself

from just being the
director of "Pulp Fiction."

I'm gonna get divorced.

Never done a
real action scene.

In his first three films,
there's barely action.

To
those that believed

the wordsmith was
out of his depth--

Silly Caucasian girl likes
to play with samurai swords.

Tarantino's
message was clear.

You don't think I can do this?

Hold my beer and watch me.

"Kill Bill"
was meant to be a mashup

of cinema's most visual genres,

which meant Quentin needed

a director of photography
that could do it all.

Robert Richardson was
our cinematographer.

Bob's a great cinematographer.

So if Hollywood's
elite turns to Richardson,

who does Richardson turn to?

Bob calls up and I'm always
eager to answer that phone.

And he said, "I
read this script.

It's probably the best
script I've ever read.

I had to write him a letter."

He said, "I want to do
this film with you."

They met and so he
offered him the movie,

and we stepped in.

And so we were
off to the races.

More specifically--

Pack your parachute, we're
going to China.

Master Woo
didn't ask for focus,

he demanded it.

My punches had to be precise.

My kicks vital.

Fabulous knife choreography.

Incredible physical feats.

The rigorous
training began to take its toll.

Awesomely challenging.

Soon the only thing

Vivica would be
hitting was the wall.

I got frustrated
halfway through training,

'cause I got tired
of being critiqued.

When do you wanna die?

If Vivica was
looking for a cheerleader,

she was on the wrong set.

"You did this wrong."

You did, you know,
da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

"You gotta do higher kicks."

Like, are we doing
anything right?

And Quentin was like, "I'm
gonna keep pointing out

what you're doing wrong so
that you become excellent."

But I can't.

Yeah.

It was then
Vivica was reminded

of the difference
between Master Woo

and Quentin Tarantino.

Uma was like, "Vivica--"

You can stop right there.

"He can fire your ass,

so you might wanna
chill out over there."

I'm a different person now.

Besides,
compared to Uma,

Vivica had little
to complain about.

Uma gave birth months before
we were gonna start shooting.

And she was like breastfeeding
and training and this.

It was definitely tough for her.

But Uma's
hardship was lost

on her 20-year-old partner.

Had I have understood that,

I would've just been in her
trailer every day being like,

"Would you like to
cry into my hands?

Can I get you a tissue?

Do you need something to eat?

Would you like a cigarette?"

Not sure
the newborn mother

needed a cigarette.

Meanwhile, the cast weren't
the only ones being pushed

to their limit as
production neared.

I read the script and
it's all over the place.

It's Mexico.

In China.

Los Angeles.

The desert of California.

And Japan.

If I had to make a list

of impossible things
that could never happen.

What is this?

This was a very
difficult picture to make.

How are we gonna do this?

Unfortunately for William,

it was his job to schedule it.

The first schedule
I put together,

I believe it was
about 120, 125 days.

But before
going to Quentin,

it would need to
be rubber stamped

by producer Lawrence Bender.

Like 125 days, what
are you talking about?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

How long does this shit take?

They nearly fired me
on the spot.

If you're unconvinced a
particular plan of action

I've decided is the
wisest, tell me so.

"Make it a 98 day schedule."

I'm like, "Okay, all
right, all right."

So I go back to the
drawing board a bit.

As William
cut the schedule.

There you go.

- Yes.
- By 20%.

Yeah, how about,
how about that?

I take this 98 day
schedule to Quentin.

He looks at the first day,

"That's great, that's great."

Oh my god, this is great.

Not only was it
Quentin's first action film--

Okinawa. One way.

It was
Tarantino's first time

filming outside of the US.

What about the other 17 weeks?

He's like, "You know,
I don't really know.

I've never done this before.

So we're just
gonna have to see."

Whether it
was optimism or naivete,

the time had come
to call action,

or as the locals would say-

Kai pai.

We went to China
on "Kill Bill"

so we can get the
essence of shen qi.

Ironically,
training with Pai Mei

would be the only sequence
actually set in China.

House of Blue Leaves,

we had scouted a place in Tokyo.

One ticket to Tokyo, please.

There was
just one complication--

Tattooed fellas not
wanting us to shoot there.

Power struggle
with the other Yakuza clans.

Turns out someone
wanted to wet their beak.

You pay this guy here,

and you pay this guy here,

and then you pay this guy.

And then pretty soon they said,

"Oh, you gotta give us
another million dollars,

another million dollars."

Tarantino decided

to take matters
into his own hands.

Actually, it was more like-

Quentin said, "Nah,
we're outta here."

Meanwhile,
back in Beijing,

preparations were underway

for the film's most
ambitious scene.

House of Blue Leaves
sequence was scheduled

for three weeks.

Three weeks?

It was an impossible task.

I think he always knew it.

Quentin's
cinematographer...

Bob Richardson.

...didn't exactly
expedite the timeline.

They only shoot one camera.

It's not like a
Michael Bay movie

where you have 23 cameras
rolling for this one thing

and you're like, "Yep, no,

that's how we're gonna
stay on schedule."

That's how Quentin likes it.

Turns out
most of the things

Quentin liked also happened
to take the longest.

There's no digital effects.

It's all practical.

I remember, you know,
us all being skeptical

of these very on camera gags.

For which
Quentin once again

turned to his longtime
collaborators K.N.B.

"Reservoir Dogs" may have
been the first car interior--

A lot of blood.

This blood's scaring
the shit out of me, Larry.

I don't know how
much blood we used.

What you talking about?

But it
wouldn't be the last.

Oh!

To be
destroyed by K.N.B.

Bloody, you
know, brain matter.

Are you sure this is
absolutely necessary?

So when "Kill Bill" came up,

and we bring just tons of stuff,

bodies and parts and
blood rigs, everything.

Now the House of Blue Leaves
sequence is shot in sequence.

So it took like
a good week or so

to get to Sophie's
arm getting cut off,

which is the very first gag.

For those
keeping score at home,

that's one week down,
only two left to go.

And we did some tests,

and Quentin wasn't that keen.

It wasn't enough.

So how much
more could Quentin want?

500 gallons of blood.

And time and
money were running out.

We can't afford it.

Special
effects guru Howard Berger

was struggling
with "Kill Bill's"

most ambitious fight sequence,

the House of Blue Leaves.

I'm being too conservative.

We need
to make this like

basically like
Shogun Assassin.

Opting for
the "more is more" approach,

Quentin threw down the gauntlet.

Make it crazy big,

like 30 foot sprays coming
out of people's arms.

Challenge accepted.

I'm on it, I got it.

I rigged something up.

I had big fire extinguishers.

300 pounds of pressure.

Blood shooting out.

And I showed it to Quentin,

he's like, "That's what
I've been talking about."

And we would do about 40
gags, 40 blood gags a day.

So, 40
blood gags a day

multiplied by two blood filled
fire extinguishers per gag,

carry the one, comes out to--

Tons and tons of blood.

Blood everywhere.

It was so great.

And at one point,
we were running out.

Quentin was
running out of time,

running out of money,

but running out of
blood wasn't an option.

And I went to the
production manager,

I said, "Hey, we have
to order more blood."

And she's like, "We
can't afford it."

And I was like, "Why
would you even say that?

Should we be chopping
your head off?"

It's not a question,
it's a statement.

Production
continued to feel the tight grip

of Harvey Weinstein's
hand squeezing the budget.

Just spend the money,
for goodness sake.

So stupid.

Howard and
Company did their best

to shield Quentin from
Weinstein's budget agenda,

allowing Tarantino to
focus on filmmaking.

I heard somebody calling
my name and I looked up,

and it was my friend Zoe Bell,

who I had worked with
on "Hercules and Xena"

way back when in New
Zealand when she was 17.

And at
only 20 years old,

the Kiwi was still
a Hollywood rookie.

It was my first
time away from home,

my first time on a movie set.

I didn't think I was gonna be
doing any of the fight stuff

or any of the wire stuff.

I assumed it wasn't gonna be me.

I went to Quentin one day,

I said, "You know, you
can wire Zoe Bell."

Me? What the hell?

I'm not doing the fight stuff.

I bet you if you
give her a chance,

you'll just use Zoe to
double Uma the whole show.

Huh? Me?

And then he tried her.

And I was shitting my pants.

The first piece of
choreography I did

is side roll over another dude.

That whole run up the
banister, that's Zoe.

He's like, "Oh my god,
she's incredible."

Quentin saw me
in the whole outfit

and was like, that's The Bride.

"Kill Bill" is when Quentin

first started requiring the
same thing of me as an actor.

As Tarantino
continued filming,

his influences were
on full display.

On the duel between
O-Ren Ishii and The Bride.

And it appears
a certain "Lady Snowblood"

had just been pick-pocketed.

If you look at "Snowblood,"

you can definitely see
the DNA of "Kill Bill."

Like
"Lady Snowblood,"

The Bride didn't just kill,
she killed with style.

When we were talking about
the Lucy Liu decapitation--

So it's a forced
perspective makeup.

I put a bald cap on Lucy's head,

and then we glued this piece
onto Lucy and painted it.

Photographed a specific
way straight on,

it looks like the top
of her head's cut off.

The
budget wasn't immune

from losing a bit
off the top either.

So we were going over
almost immediately.

I don't think anyone
had fully anticipated

how long it was going
to take to shoot.

- Well?
- Three weeks.

Not everyone
was upset about the backlog.

I was just a pig in
shit the whole time.

I was like, please
make it longer.

Not my money we're
burning. You know?

But money
was being burnt.

How much?

Which
put pressure on--

Bob Richardson, who is known
as the white-haired devil.

We're doing a scene as
described in the script.

It was silhouetted.

Quentin described
it as a silhouette,

and Bob prepared a silhouette.

And we're doing wide shot,

and then it's time to move in.

Quentin says, "We need
to light their faces."

Bob's like, "Well,
that's not a silhouette."

Quentin said, "No, you know,

we need to be able to, you know,

see their eyes or see
their lips or something."

"But you'd said silhouette.

Do you want a silhouette
or not a silhouette?"

"Yeah, silhouette, silhouette.

Is this beyond your lexicon?"

That pissed Bob off.

And Bob's like--

So that's when I was like,

"Hey, okay fellas, okay,

we're a little semantic here."

Quintin said, "Ian!"

He goes, "You tell
him."

And Bob's like,
"Ian, you tell him."

I was like--

And everybody went to
their separate corners

and we did it.

It's a beautiful scene.

The schedule issue
would become a budget issue,

which would become a
Harvey Weinstein issue.

He was scary.

Everybody was scared
shitless of him.

"How the fuck can
you let this happen?

What the fuck?
Is this a movie

or is this
a fucking day camp?

What are you doing?
What's going on?"

He's Harvey Weinstein,
for Christ sake.

I mean he is the biggest,

most powerful
producer in Hollywood.

Other people have
told me the story

that it was meant
to be two weeks

and it ended up being eight.

I don't know who scheduled

that fight for two weeks.

It was hopeful at best.

The man
stuck between Quentin

and an enraged Weinstein--

Lawrence Bender.

Although
at the time,

Bender's disposition
wasn't quite as sunny.

Miramax was coming
down quite a bit

on Lawrence and Bennett,

and Lawrence and Bennett
were coming down on me.

I was under a lot of pressure
because we're going over.

There
was no one left

to shield Quentin from Harvey.

He was not pleased
with the fact

that we were still
gonna be shooting there

'cause of money.

Quentin said, "Why don't you go

to the editing
room and see Sally,

and she's gonna show
you some stuff."

And he is like, "Fine,
but I'll tell you,"

da-da-da-da-da.

The only
thing Quentin trusted

more than his footage was
his editor Sally Menke,

who knew exactly what
Harvey needed to see.

And he thought the
footage was so incredible

that he's like, "I
don't even care.

Just keep shooting,

and you have a blank check,

and I'll see you when
you decide to come back."

And that was it.

While
Harvey Weinstein

may have been
momentarily appeased,

Quentin's editor Sally Menke

called with concerns
from her bay.

It's getting kinda long.

Unfinished business.

You know, you got another
half of the movie to shoot

and you're already pretty
deep into your time.

Quentin
had won the battle

for more time on set,

but the war for "Kill Bill's"
runtime was just beginning.

Harvey was keen on getting
it at a certain length,

and he wasn't gonna
take any other answers.

Post-production
was drowning

in "Kill Bill" footage.

Pretty much everything
that he wrote, we filmed.

All that stuff
was so tremendous,

there was no way
they were gonna cut it.

But where
Sally Menke saw a problem-

What are you gonna cut?

I'm gonna cut something off.

Harvey Weinstein
saw an opportunity.

Quentin came up to
me one day and he goes,

"Can you believe
that Harvey Weinstein

wants me to split this
damn thing into two parts?"

He goes, "I'm not
gonna do that."

He goes, "Do you think
I should do that?"

Well, maybe.

This would solve
Tarantino's runtime problem.

He goes, "I'm
never gonna do that.

That's never gonna happen."

But what
would his partner think?

Uma, who is the co-writer,

she says, "That's perfect.

Don't listen to that guy."

Whether
it was Uma or Sally--

I don't care.

Be that as it may--

Someone was
about to be disappointed.

And Quentin's like,

"No, I think I know
where I could break it."

So it became "Kill
Bill..." "Kill Bill..."

Separate it and make
twice as much money.

Lucy Liu said--

The price you pay--

"Quentin, does this
mean we'd get paid

twice the amount
of money?"

Tell me about it.

But we got a little bonus
check out of the deal.

With filming
in China complete,

production returned
to the States

where a beautiful Pasadena
home was about to be destroyed.

He wanted it bloody.

Tarantino had
chosen a practical location

for the Battle of the Moms.

Our fight scene didn't
have a lot of tricks.

It was a brawl.

Like she comes in.

Each day, we've tore up a
different part of the house.

That choreography was no joke.

Vivica was
doing her own stunts.

I'm like, "I trained
for six damn months,

I'm doing it."

The stunt double literally
used to be pissed at me.

She's like, "Am I gonna
get to work today?"

I was like, "No, maybe not."

But
there came a point

where a line had to be drawn.

There's this scene
where she kicks me

and I go over the couch,
crashed through the glass table.

I wanted to do it
and Quentin was like,

"Absolutely not."

Ultimately,
Vivica's double got the stunt

and a little something extra.

My stunt double ended
up getting four stitches.

That's not to
say Vivica went unscathed.

My very last day of filming,

I counted the bruises
over my body and had 30,

but I was proud
of those bruises.

But for The
Bride, the hits kept coming.

Just between us girls.

Just
between these girls,

and of course their doubles-

The trailer is just
like boom, boom, boom.

That was a scrap.

First of all, he prepares
you completely thoroughly.

Over-trains you,
over-educates you,

fills you with everything
that you could possibly need,

knows exactly what he wants.

Up until
the very last minute,

the fight was to end with
the death of Elle Driver.

Quentin comes in
one morning and goes,

"I had a dream last night.

We're not gonna kill Elle."

What's the terms?

Uma's gonna pull
out her other eye.

And I said, "But isn't
that shooting today?"

And he's like, "Yeah."

There's always
room for inspiration,

so if something comes to him,

we all rally to make it work.

As he said,
"Howard, what's worse?

Like we can kill her,

but what's worse is she's blind,

trapped in the
middle of the desert

in a trailer with
a black mamba."

I mean, it doesn't
get worse than that.

You are so right.

And as they say,

teamwork makes the dream work,

or in this case,
the nightmare work.

It's my foot.

You know, the eyeball.

Gross.

It was gross to me.

If Uma's feet
had any more screen time,

they'd get their own SAG card.

In character, my foot's like,

"Die bitch," and above the
lens I'm like, ew!

I had broken a
toenail in training,

that's how I recognized that
it's definitely my foot.

If a new idea comes

and it's better than
what was in the script,

that's what he's gonna shoot.

As was evident
in Bill and Budd's exchange.

That woman
deserves her revenge.

I mean, I made that up.

"That girl, she
deserves her revenge,

but then again-"

We deserve to die.

You know, who I love
and I really miss a lot

is David Carradine.

He was one hell of an actor.

Great, great guy.

Oh, she got us, baby.

Mom got us.

When he'd come to
visit me in my trailer,

I'm all cool and
I'm sitting there,

and he started telling me

that Uma's gonna come after me.

But you've got to get
over being mad at me

and start becoming afraid of me.

I had a Winchester,

and instead of
coming out the door

I was supposed to come out,

I came out the back door.

And he goes like that,
and he shakes his head,

and he walks off the set.

And everybody's
like, "Where's David?

Where? Where's Carradine?

Where'd he go?"

And he came back to the set

and he had a holster
on with a pistol in it.

And he goes, "You're
gonna come out that door,

I'm gonna be like this.

You point that thing at me,

I'm gonna shoot
you back."

Another
scene at the trailer

would hit a little different.

Zoe Bell was about
to find her limit,

putting the film and
her life in jeopardy.

I missed the mat by
quite a bit, if I remember.

Instead
of landing on her mat,

Zoe came skidding.

Onto the desert floor,

which is effectively like
asphalt at that point.

I couldn't get oxygen.

So when I came up,
I couldn't breathe

and I was like,
I might still die

and this could still be bad.

I had thoughts flying
through my head like,

"I can't die from being winded.

That's lame."

But her
wrist was another story.

I dunno what's wrong
with it, but it's fucked.

Zoe may have trained
for martial arts movies--

Now I'm a master of movie fu.

But Mr.
Miyagi's hand clap

only worked on the other side

of the screen, which meant--

All right, we're
going to the hospital.

Zoe
ended up in a cast,

bringing her time on "Kill
Bill" to a premature end.

The movie's
called "Kill Bill."

I'm like, I don't
even get to kill him

after all of these months.

Like what the hell?

With
production nearly complete,

Tarantino looked to film the
few remaining odds and ends,

including a shot of The Bride

tearing through the
Mexican countryside.

We were ready to shoot.

Uma said, eh,
she's from New York

and she hasn't driven that much,

and she was a little hesitant.

And Quentin said, "Fine,
we'll get Zoe to drive."

But I had a cast on,

so you know, driving
was, I couldn't.

Quentin said, "Let's just go,

we'll use Uma, you know.

Well, she can do it."

With production
so close to the end,

Quentin made the call.

She didn't wanna drive the car

on that day, but
it's really her.

And against
her better judgment,

Uma put pedal to metal.

She slid right into a
palm tree head on, head on.

With
prodtion nearly wrapped,

Tarantino convinced Uma,
against her better judgment,

to get behind the wheel.

And it stopped her
like a load of bricks.

And she got hurt pretty bad.

Uma would
suffer permanent injuries

to her neck and knees,
as well as a concussion.

'Cause he made her do it

because it should have
been a stunt double

driving the car from that shot.

I then was furious.

I should be there.

I felt responsible.

Quentin didn't really
seem like it was a big deal.

He was more kind of like,

well, you know, stuff
like that happens,

and you know, I'm sorry,

and you know, he was over it.

He was like, he was
over it the same day.

Uma had
put on a brave face

in front of the crew.

She never told us, she
never complained about it.

But
behind closed doors.

Her and Quentin
were very angry

with each other for
quite a while after that.

Regret.

The
incident put a strain

on Uma and Quentin's
relationship,

one that wouldn't be
resolved until 2018.

It took her a long
time to get over it.

It was between them
in a really weird way.

Some things, once you do,

they can never be undone.

Quentin
and longtime producer

Lawrence Bender's relationship

was also strained
to a breaking point.

We were getting
beat up so much,

you know, behind
the scenes that,

you know, it was
difficult for him

not to take the perspective

of the studio a little
bit more than I had seen.

Even Harvey, you
know, beat us up,

you know, when
Quentin wasn't around.

That pressure I guess gets felt,

and I think that put a bit

of a strain on
their relationship.

I kind of get the sense that

they had just kind of run
their course at that point.

Lawrence had his
other interests,

as it wasn't just
Quentin anymore,

he was Lawrence
Bender Productions.

And the lack
of focus had resulted

in a budget and filming overrun.

I did the 125 day.

We wound up making it 98 day.

We wound up shooting 154 days.

And
sold for 154 days

for a total of 56
days over schedule.

But "Kill Bill" wasn't done yet.

It was a massive
assembly, it was.

It appeared
the sheer volume of work

had taken its toll on Quentin.

"Kill Bill" was
a difficult post.

Sally called me one
day and was like,

"There are days he's
a little different.

What's happening?"

Regardless,
Quentin was off

and Sally Menke knew it.

That's just who she was.

She cared about him and
she wanted to help him,

but sometimes felt
like she was unable to,

and I say, "You will tomorrow."

Even though
filming was complete,

animated footage was still
on its way from Japan.

I think it's all
sort of in keeping

with every sequence is an homage

to another style of filmmaking.

That was done by Production I.G,

who had done "Ghost
in the Shell."

Production I.G's version
of the characters

did not look much like

the live action version
of the characters,

and there was some
debate about that.

Quentin loved it.

Like he's like, "This
is what they do,

like let them do their thing."

With
editing finished,

it was time to introduce
the world to The Bride.

You should give her away.

Part one was
released on October 10th, 2003.

The budget for the entire "Kill
Bill" saga was $60 million.

Not bad considering "Volume 1"

would bring in $180 million.

Very successful.
It did really well.

While most
sequels take years,

six months later, "Kill
Bill" would once again

take theaters by
storm with "Volume 2."

"Volume 1" sets up
all that mythology,

and then "Volume 2," you
get to know the people more.

The follow
up broke 150 million

on a $30 million budget,

bringing the combined
gross to 330 million.

Part of the reason it worked

was there's still a
cache to Tarantino,

and I think
audiences were primed

for the division into two.

It's literally
impossible for a film

to be that successful without
speculation of a follow-up,

an idea Tarantino entertained.

Thinking about 15 years,

maybe doing another
"Kill Bill" movie

that would be
about what happened

to Vivica Fox's daughter, Nikki.

My daughter will be
on a revenge mission

finding Uma 'cause she said-

When you grow up,

if you still feel raw about it,

I'll be waiting.

Quentin
understandably wanted to wait

until the kids were old
enough to kill on camera.

He gets renewed and
invigorated with it in 2019

when now Maya Hawk has
become an actress herself,

Uma's daughter.

And he thinks, you know,
it'd kind of be cool

to have Uma's daughter
play her daughter

in the film now that she
actually has acting chops

because they're mother
and daughter in real life.

Oh yeah, I would love to.

But he finally puts it to bed

where he just said it
took so much out of him

doing it the last time,

and now being a married man

and at the time with
really two small children,

he doesn't have the energy

to move forward with
"Kill Bill: Volume 3."

As for
Tarantino's next project-

Now comes the
$64,000 question.

Quentin
had unfinished business

on the battlefield.

World War II movie,
couldn't finish it.

But
with his mojo back,

Tarantino was ready to finish
what he started and that's-

Killing Nazis.