‘My biggest regret’: Quentin Tarantino addresses claims he endangered Uma Thurman on set and enabled Harvey Weinstein
On the same day that Tarantino tried to address the resulting criticism, audio also emerged of him apparently defending fellow director Roman Polanski’s sexual assault of a 13-year-old in 1977
Quentin Tarantino has responded to allegations that he forced actor Uma Thurman into unsafe working conditions during the filming of Kill Bill, calling his decision to get her to perform a stunt “the biggest regret of my life”.
Thurman accused the writer and director – known for his ultra-violent films, including Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Death Proof and the two Kill Bill films – of bullying her during filming into driving an unsafe car that then crashed, calling the incident “dehumanisation to the point of death ”.
“I am guilty, for putting her in that car, but not the way that people are saying I am guilty of it,” Tarantino told Deadline, claiming that nobody in the filming team that day considered the drive a stunt. “It was just driving. None of us looked at it as a stunt. Maybe we should have, but we didn’t. I’m sure when it was brought up to me, that I rolled my eyes and was irritated. But I’m sure I wasn’t in a rage and I wasn’t livid.”
Tarantino supported Thurman’s assertions that he had asked her to drive at a particular speed so that her hair would be blowing. At the last minute, due to concerns about the light changing, the direction of the drive was reversed – but the road was not tested in this direction before Thurman drove it, Tarantino said.
“I told her it would be OK. I told her the road was a straight line. I told her it would be safe. And it wasn’t. I was wrong. I didn’t force her into the car. She got into it because she trusted me. And she believed me.”
I am guilty, for putting her in that car, but not the way that people are saying I am guilty of it
On the same day that Tarantino tried to address the resulting criticism, audio also emerged of him apparently defending fellow director Roman Polanski’s sexual assault of a 13-year-old in 1977, saying she was “down with it” and that rape was a “buzzword” that didn’t apply to the situation.
In a 2003 interview with Howard Stern, Tarantino said of Polanski: “He didn’t rape a 13-year-old. It was statutory rape … he had sex with a minor. That’s not rape. To me, when you use the word rape, you’re talking about violent, throwing them down – it’s like one of the most violent crimes in the world … Throwing the word rape around is like throwing the word ‘racist’ around. It doesn’t apply to everything people use it for … She wanted to have [sex]! Dated the guy!”