From Pulp Fiction to the Kill Bill films, actress Uma Thurman and director Quentin Tarantino have been an iconic cinematic duo over the decades. However, that professional partnership almost crashed and burned—in this case, literally—when the duo had a falling out while filming their martial-arts masterpiece Kill Bill back in the early 2000s.
That behind-the-scenes feud resurfaced when Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affairhit theaters Friday, December 5. The special edition of the action-packed classic brings together Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2 into a single, cohesive film, albeit with new footage, alternate takes and plenty more gore.
As fans revisit one of the duo’s most beloved onscreen collaborations, let’s dive into exactly what drove a wedge between the two icons over 20 years ago.
Daryl Hannah, Julie Dreyfus, Quentin Tarantino & Uma Thurman Attend A Photocall In London To Promote ‘Kill Bill’. Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
What happened between Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino?
The rift between Thurman and Tarantino stems from an incident that occurred during the final days of filming Kill Bill: Volume 2 in Mexico when the director reportedly pressured Thurman to perform a driving stunt herself, despite her objections, the actress revealed in a 2018 interview with The New York Times.
“Quentin came in my trailer and didn’t like to hear no, like any director,” she said. “He was furious because I’d cost them a lot of time. But I was scared. He said: ‘I promise you the car is fine. It’s a straight piece of road’ … But that was a death box that I was in. The seat wasn’t screwed down properly. It was a sand road and it was not a straight road.”
During the stunt, Thurman lost control of the car and smashed into a palm tree, leaving her neck “permanently damaged” and her knees injured. “When I came back from the hospital in a neck brace with my knees damaged and a large massive egg on my head and a concussion, I wanted to see the car and I was very upset,” Thurman explained. “Quentin and I had an enormous fight, and I accused him of trying to kill me. And he was very angry at that, I guess understandably, because he didn’t feel he had tried to kill me.”
The duo was in “a terrible fight” for years, Thurman revealed: “We had to then go through promoting the [Kill Bill] movies. It was all very thin ice. We had a fateful fight at Soho House in New York in 2004 and we were shouting at each other because he wouldn’t let me see the footage and he told me that was what they had all decided.”
It would be 15 years after the crash that Tarantino agreed to give Thurman footage of the incident, reportedly after getting lawyers and the police involved. Tarantino later took accountability for what happened to his close collaborator, telling Deadline: “I am guilty, for putting her in that car…It’s the biggest regret of my life, getting her to do that stunt.”
“It affected me and Uma for the next two to three years. It wasn’t like we didn’t talk. But a trust was broken. A trust broken over a year of shooting, of us doing really gnarly stuff. Doing really big stunt stuff,” the director continued. “I wanted her to do as much as possible and we were trying to take care of her and we pulled it off. She didn’t get hurt. And then the last four days, in what we thought would be a simple driving shot, almost kills her.
Related: Henry Cavill Reportedly Suffers Harrowing Injury on Set
Miramax
Did Uma Thurman ever forgive Quentin Tarantino?
Yes, Thurman eventually did forgive the director for his involvement in the crash. She clarified as such via social media shortly after the 2018 New York Times article, though has since deleted the post; per PEOPLE, it read: “Quentin Tarantino was deeply regretful and remains remorseful about this sorry event, and gave me the footage years later so I could expose it and let it see the light of day, regardless of it most likely being an event for which justice will never be possible. He also did so with full knowledge it could cause him personal harm, and I am proud of him for doing the right thing and for his courage.”
Related: Brendan Fraser Recalls Near-Death Experience on ‘The Mummy’
US director Quentin Tarantino and US actress Uma Thurman attend the premiere of “Sils Maria” during the 67th Cannes International Film Festival at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, on 23 May 2014Hubert Boesl/Getty Images
Are Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino still friends?
Yes, over the years, Thurman and Tarantino have mended both their personal friendship and working relationship. Reaffirming what the actress had shared in her New York Times interview, Tarantino said it was a fateful evening at the Soho House in Manhattan that allowed them to work through their issues.
“We had a big dinner in the Soho House in New York and there we dealt with all the car stuff, and all the resentments she had toward me. The things she felt I could have done better in protecting her in that movie,” the filmmaker told Deadline. “And we hashed it all out, put it behind her and we’ve been fantastic friends ever since.”
The two have also resumed their professional collaborations, working together on the recent animated Fortnite project, The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge which is being screened as part of the new Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair project.
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Thurman said that she’d even act again in another feature for Tarantino “if he wrote a great part,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “I understand him and if he wrote a great part and we were both in the right place about it, that would be something else.” The star added: “We’ve had our fights over the years. When you know someone for as long as I’ve known him, 25 years of creative collaboration … did we have some tragedies take place? Sure. But you can’t reduce that type of history and legacy.”
Next, How to Watch Every Quentin Tarantino Movie in Order—And Where Each One Is Streaming Now
This story was originally published by Parade on Jan 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.