Kill Bill: Vol. 1
WhileKill Billmay not quite be the greatest Tarantino moving-picture show , it just might be the Tarantino - iest Tarantino movie . ( And the director does consider it to be one motion picture , despite selling concern forcing him to split it up into two theatrical releases . )
It introduced us to Tarantino ’s penchant for chapter - establish narration , wind together his most eclectic compounding of genres ( Shaw Brothers kung fu picture , spaghetti western , Taiwanese wuxia motion picture , and blaxploitation movies , to name a choice smattering ) , and has more cartoonishly bloody violence than the rest of his moving-picture show conflate ( except for maybeDjango Unchained ) . So , here are 10 behind - the - scene facts aboutKill Bill .
Quentin Tarantino delayed filming because Uma Thurman was pregnant
Just when everything was in stead to start shootingKill Bill , Uma Thurman became pregnant , so she could n’t do the moving picture . Quentin Tarantino delayed filming until she ’d had the babe and was ready to come back to work . He did n’t even retrieve about replacing her .
The directorreasoned , “ If Josef Von Sternberg is catch ready to makeMoroccoand Marlene Dietrich gets fraught , he waits for Dietrich ! ” In other words , if a music director is setting out to make a Passion of Christ project and the perfect lead actor becomes pregnant , the film director should wait , because they ’re not go to find anyone dear for the role .
It took Tarantino six years to write the script
From initially putting pen to newspaper to map out the Bride ’s story to dispatch a coherent draft copy of the screenplay , Quentin Tarantino spend six years in total writing the book forKill Bill . The first rough drawing came in at around 220 pages long . An average screenplay is around 90 - 120 Thomas Nelson Page long , so it ’s no wonder thatKill Billeventually had to be split into two share at the studio apartment ’s behest .
Initially , the director wanted to make it as one film , but eventually realized that not enough mainstream moviegoer would buy a tag to see a four - hour movie . Of course , when the two were cut together and released under the titleThe Whole Bloody Affair , plenitude of fans turned out .
Several Big Name Stars turned down the role of Bill
David Carradine ended up being the perfect choice to diddle Bill , deliver his ungainly monologue at his own stride and not lose the audience ’s care for a second . But before he was cast , the function was offer to Jack Nicholson , Kurt Russell , Mickey Rourke , and Burt Reynolds , who all turned it down .
Russell would terminate upregularly collaborate with Tarantino , appear inDeath Proof , The Hateful Eight , andOnce Upon a sentence in Hollywood . Reynolds had been initially cast to act rancher George Spahn in the latter film but pass away before burgeon forth began and was replaced by Bruce Dern .
Quentin Tarantino actually owns that truck
One of the most iconic props from any Tarantino flick is the “ P***y Wagon , ” a car that the Bride steals from her would - be aggressor when she arouse from her comatoseness . This car is in reality the personal prop of Quentin Tarantino . He tug it around townsfolk to promoteKill Bill : Volume 2when it first hit theaters .
He has since lend it out for use in two medicine video : Lady Gaga and Beyoncé ’s “ Telephone ” and Missy Elliott ’s “ I ’m Really raging . ” This is n’t the first time Tarantino ’s personal property has been used as a prop in one of his films ; he actually possess Jules ’ “ Bad Mother F****r ” wallet fromPulp Fiction .
$60,000 of the budget was spent on swords
The financiers ofKill Billreportedly spend $ 60,000 on just blade and blade accessories . Each book ofKill Billreportedly be around $ 30 million , make the two film ’ total budget $ 60 million . This means that on this Hollywood action mechanism movie with paid employees drop a studio ’s money to bring Quentin Tarantino ’s mental imagery to life , 0.1 % of the budget was spent on brand alone .
A lot of these swords in all probability went towards grace the set for the scene set in fabled swordsmith Hattori Hanzō ’s shop . Hanzō was played by Sonny Chiba , whose iconic work Tarantino had antecedently praise vicariously through the Clarence fictional character inTrue Romance .
The blood squibs were Chinese condoms filled with fake blood
When he was directing the activity scenes forKill Bill , Quentin Tarantino did n’t want to use any electronic computer - generated effect or even professional - form practical burden . He desire to recreate the very specific spirit of Formosan wuxia cinema of the ‘ 70s .
This mean using Chinese safe filled with fake ancestry , a technique that was first popularise by Chang Cheh , or else of eminent - end blood squibs that any other Hollywood action moving picture would use .
In plus to Cheh , the impregnable influence on Tarantino ’s collaboration with his cinematographer , Robert Richardson , was the films of the Shaw Brothers Studio . The film director provided Richardson with a listing of visual reference point before shoot .
Robert Rodriguez co-scored Volume 2 for $1
WhileKill Bill : Volume 1was seduce by RZA alone , Volume 2was conscientious objector - score by RZA and Robert Rodriguez , a fellow film maker and close personal friend of Quentin Tarantino ’s . Rodriguez carbon monoxide gas - composed the score forVolume 2for a minimal fee of just $ 1 , as a favor to Tarantino to help him save some money on the budget .
Tarantino would later come back the favor when he directed a aspect in Rodriguez ’s filmSin Cityfor $ 1.RZA saidof Rodriguez ’s contributions to the sequel ’s soundtrack , “ He choose the electronic stuff and kept it there , then built the instrumentation on top of it . ”
Pai Mei almost had a bad English dub by Quentin Tarantino
One of the interesting backstory sequences inKill Bill : book 2shows us the Bride preparation with Pai Mei , a legendary warriorlike art passe-partout with a long , thin , white beard . The character was played by Chia - Hui Liu , speaking Cantonese that ’s subtitle in English .
Originally , Quentin Tarantino visualise play a bad English dub in his own voice over Pai Mei ’s negotiation . finally , he scrapped it and let the actor play the part in his own voice . It ’s an interesting idea on paper , but it would probably come off as weird in implementation , and it would limit Chia - Hui Liu ’s ability to really personify the character on - screen .
Uma Thurman and Daryl Hannah didn’t get along on-set
On the set ofKill Bill , Uma Thurman and Daryl Hannah did n’t get along . They reportedly asked hotel staff to keep them apart during the press spell for the first film . When they acquire the Best Fight award at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards , only Hannah turned up to collect it . Thurman had appear to assume the same award one year prior when she won it for her fight with Chiaki Kuriyama inVolume 1 .
If anything , Thurman and Hannah ’s indifference to each other on the set just fueled the on - projection screen hate between their character , the Bride and Elle Driver .
Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman created the Bride on the set of Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman conceived “ the Bride ” fibre on the set of their first collaboration , Pulp Fiction . Tarantino told Thurman he had a canonical melodic theme for a revenge movie that would begin with a slam of a woman lying beaten and bloodied while her attackers endure over her .
Thurman told him the shot should extend to divulge that she ’s wearing a bridal gown . Thus , the Bride was born , and Tarantino expend the next few long time calculate out her level . While the screenplay forKill Billis credited to Tarantino alone , the creation of “ the Bride ” character is credit to “ Q & U. ”
NEXT : The Path Of The Righteous Man : 10 Behind - The - Scenes Facts About Pulp Fiction
