Tarantino put me at wheel of a death trap
UMA THURMAN also accuses Quentin Tarantino of trying to kill her on the set of the 2003 film Kill Bill.
She claims the director put her in a dangerous situation to get a shot of her assassin character driving a blue convertible en route to her final job.
Thurman says Tarantino ignored her safety fears, and the car subsequently crashed, leaving her with permanent back and neck injuries.
The actress says a worker on the set told her the car might be unsafe so she begged for a stuntwoman to take her place: ‘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.
‘I was scared but he said, “I promise you the car is fine. It’s a straight piece of road.’’’ She said Tarantino – who had previously directed her in Pulp Fiction – also told her: ‘Hit 40mph or your hair won’t blow the right way and I’ll make you do it again.’
Thurman added: ‘That was a death box I was in. The seat wasn’t screwed down properly. It was a sand road, not a straight road.’
The actress last night released a video of the crash which shows her careering out of control and smashing into a palm tree.
She lays motionless for several seconds until crew members, including Tarantino, rush to her aid. ‘I felt this searing pain and thought, “Oh my God, I’m never going to walk again.” When I came back from the hospital in a neck brace with my knees damaged and concussion… Quentin and I had an enormous fight. ‘I accused him of trying to kill me. He was very angry at that, because he didn’t feel he had tried to kill me.’ She added that after the accident, ‘I went from being a creative contributor… to being like a broken tool.
‘Harvey assaulted me but that didn’t kill me. What got me about the crash was that it was a cheap shot.’
Tarantino did not respond to requests to comment last night.