Uma Thurman left no stone unturned this week as she said her piece to New York Times. In the article, Thurman directly accused Harvey Weinstein and Quentin Tarantino of trying to kill her on the set of 'Kill Bill'. It is also suggested that the latter both strangled and spat on the actress whilst filming for different scenes of the film. Now, Tarantino has decided to speak up and tell his side of the story.
Speaking to Deadine, Tarantino verified Thurman's story about the crash on the set of 'Kill Bill' and dubbed the incident as "one of the biggest regrets of my career...one of the biggest regrets of my life". According to the film-maker, before Thurman even got in the driving seat, he himself drove down the road in question to check for any dangers, and upon finding none, gave the go ahead for Uma to do the same. "Uma's response was «Okay» because she believed me. Because she trusted me", explained Tarantino.
However, at the last minute, Tarantino changed his mind and decided to film the scene with the car coming from the opposite direction to the way he had just test driven. "I didn't see how it would affect anything. A straight road is a straight road...I told her it would be safe. And it wasn't. I was wrong". It turns out that in driving from the opposite direction there was an S-like curve in the road that caused Thurman to lose control of the car and end up in hospital.
With regard to spitting and choking claims, Tarantino is adamant that the writer of the New York Times article has twisted Thurman's words: "If you notice, all that choking and spitting stuff is not in quotes from Uma. It's part of Maureen Dowd's prose". The director has clarified that Thurman was well aware that the spit was not going to be artificial and that she was very much on board with it: "we did our three takes, and Uma said, if you really need a fourth one, go ahead, do a fourth one". Tarantino also went on to explain how the whole strangling scene was "Uma's suggestion".
Thurman's clarification
It's thanks to Tarantino that Uma Thurman was even able to get her hands on the crash tape and the director also clarifies how he and Thurman are actually good friends. The two of them had spoken at length about her New York Times interview and the actress is reportedly annoyed at the backlash that Tarantino has received: "She never meant this to roll over onto me".
For her part, Thurman has posted part of the crash footage onto her Instagram page with a caption clarifying exactly who she believes is responsible for the accident and the cover up that followed.
