WTF Happened to Kill Bill (2003)?

Flashback to the fall of 2003. Quentin Tarantino was about to debut the first half of his ode to exploitation cinema, Kill Bill. At this point, he hadn’t made a movie since 1997’s Jackie Brown, and folks were wondering if he’d lost his touch. After all, he was the hip wunderkind of the nineties; would his fame carry over to the 2000s. There were stories of production delays and budget overages coming from the set, and the notion to split the movie in two made everyone think his opus would be a disaster. The result – not one but two major box office hits that add up to perhaps the greatest American martial arts film ever made, and one that reinvented star Uma Thurman as one of the coolest action heroine’s of all time.

In this episode, we go into all of the issues Tarantino faced when making the film, including delays, a huge problem casting the titular Bill (with Warren Beatty once the favourite to play the role David Carradine made iconic), accidents on-set, budget blowouts and more. It’s a good yarn, and it adds up to a masterpiece, even if Tarantino’s definitive Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair has yet to see an official release.

This episode of WTF Happened to this Movie is written and narrated by Mathew Plale, edited by Juan Jimenez, produced by Ben Cantler and executive produced by Berge Garabedian! Watch previous episodes below and let us know in the comments where you think Kill Bill ranks among QT’s filmography.