Uma Thurman forgives Quentin Tarantino—but not Harvey Weinstein—for crash on Kill Bill set
Over the weekend, The New York Times ran a story that observers had been awaiting ever since her terse, righteously angry statement when she was asked about sexual misconduct on the red carpet back in November: The full story of why Uma Thurman burns with white-hot rage when she hears the name “Harvey Weinstein.” In the article, Thurman describes not only being attacked by Weinstein in a Paris hotel room shortly before filming was to begin on Kill Bill, but the car crash on the set of the film that permanently ruined not only her neck and her knees, but her trust in Quentin Tarantino, who she had once considered a friend and collaborator.
That article, written in the fawning style of a celebrity lifestyle piece by Maureen Dowd, concentrates on the damage the crash did to Thurman and Tarantino’s relationship, adding that Tarantino performed scenes where the actress is choked and spit on in closeup himself. (While undoubtedly twisted and potentially even misogynistic, that sort of director-actor dynamic isn’t unprecedented; Italian horror director Dario Argento is similarly known for playing the murderer in his early giallo films.)
Now, Thurman has taken to Instagram to clarify that while she maintains that the crash was “negligent to the point of criminality,” she does not hold a grudge against Tarantino. He “was deeply regretful and remains remorseful about this sorry event,” she writes, and—albeit 15 years later—gave her the footage to release to the New York Times. He “did so with full knowledge it could cause him personal harm, and I am proud of him for doing the right thing,” she says, before adding:
THE COVER UP after the fact is UNFORGIVABLE. For this I hold Lawrence Bender, E. Bennett Walsh, and the notorious Harvey Weinstein solely responsible. They lied, destroyed evidence, and continue to lie about the permanent harm they caused and then chose to suppress. The cover up did have malicious intent, and shame on these three for all eternity.