Kill Bill: Volume 2 - Uma Thurman interview

UMA Thurman talks about the making of Kill Bill: Volume 2 at a London press conference...

Q. Clearly something we have to ask you about is the scene in the coffin. Are you claustrophobic?
Uma Thurman: Well, I'm claustrophobic, but you don't really have to be claustrophobic to fear being buried alive [laughs].
We shot that from every possible configuration. In fact, very little of it is on-screen, because the sound effects are so effective. The raw sound of dirt being thrown on the coffin. So it was just another happy day at the office really!

Michael Madsen: I didn't really relish doing that to you, either.

Q. Can you describe what it's like working with Quentin?
Uma Thurman: I remembered him from Pulp Fiction as somebody who is so engaged with his actors, and is so suggestively living through the characters with you. There is an incredibly kinetic dynamic to act for him. It's the great leveller between... he's all talk, which is good for me, because that's all we ever did. But there's this moment when the talking stops and the action starts and it's the moment of realisation, when it comes together, and his words, and this character, and it's real to him. First and foremost, he is an audience lover of film, and he has been transported so many times, as someone watching and believing and living through the lives of other characters, and these characters that he creates are so directly from his subconscious, expressing and dealing with taboos that he hates, and fears that he has, and first and foremost, the thrill, the worship of the experience of you in the cinema.

And he loves the incredible demand of giving you something worth watching, something which shocks you, something that's new, having the courage to change tones, from beat to beat, and moving with him in that way, it's scary, cos you're on the edge.

Because when you look around a room with all these people with no limbs and blood spurting from them, you sort of go 'oh my God, this is it', but that's what's so brilliant, is that he's unfiltered, he's unprocessed, he doesn't water anything down, so you live very dangerously working with him, you know, from tragedy to something completely camp, and winking at the camera, practically, to something horrifying. So, it's quite special.

Q. You've gone from being something of an indie actress to a Goddess, how do you think that's going to change your career? Has it?
Uma Thurman: I never really have found that those theories on things changing your career have any weight. Careers are always changing. I've been doing this since I was a teenager, but this has dominated my life for so many years that I have to say, now that it's done, it's a very unusual feeling.

Normally, you get a script, you go do the job, and then say 'see ya' and show up for the junket, and this hasn't been the case for Kill Bill; it's been a big part of my life for a long time, so I don't know. I'm about to be really done with it, so then I can figure out what that feels like.

Q. I believe that Quentin is known for borrowing the clothes and possessions of his lead actors, to use on the set, did he borrow anything from you? Did he, in fact, raid your wardrobe?
Uma Thurman: My stuff was pretty specific, it was created for me. I didn't have a yellow tracksuit.

Q. There is clearly quite a strong element of violence and possibly sadism in the film, do you think directors should be allowed to show whatever they fancy, or do you think there should be some form of censorship?
Uma Thurman: No, I don't think so. Definitely not in my country. But seriously, I would rather not. I think that people have to have creative freedom, and I think that as a fellow creative person, by choosing to work with that person, you're engaging with their psyche, and their dreams. You either believe in their vision, or you don't. I certainly believe in him.

Q. What about the prospect of a third Kill Bill film, is that something you might be interested in?
Uma Thurman: Well, all of Quentin's characters, if they survive at the end of the film, they live on in his mind. And he has a very good idea for the plot of Volume Three, so we should just wait and see what happens...

David Carradine: He also has a very good idea for the plot of Volume 4 [laughs].