Quentin Tarantino is speaking out about Uma Thurman’s explosive interview with the New York Times, in which she alleges that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her and that the Kill Bill director forced her to drive in a dangerous stunt that wound up in a car crash.
Speaking with Deadline, Tarantino takes full responsibility for putting Thurman behind the wheel of the car in the scene — the actress shared footage of the crash — which Tarantino supplied her — to the New York Times, which can be seen below.
“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. “It’s the biggest regret of my life, getting her to do that stunt. There are certain things I can’t get too far into the weeds on, but I will answer any questions you have about it.”
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According to Tarantino, the Times interview did not come as a surprise, as Thurman had previously discussed it with him. “The thing is, Uma had people she wanted to indict, for that cover-up. Part of my job on the piece was to do an interview with Maureen Dowd, and back up Uma’s claims. And we never hooked up. Me and Dowd never hooked up. I read the article and basically it seemed like all the other guys lawyered up, so they weren’t even allowed to be named. And, through mostly Maureen Dowd’s prose, I ended up taking the hit and taking the heat.”
Tarantino also confirmed that he was the one who supplied Thurman with the shocking footage, which had been denied her for years. “I figured that eventually it would be used whenever she had her big piece,” he said. “Also, there was an element of closure. She had been denied it, from Harvey Weinstein, being able to even see the footage. I wanted to deliver it to her, so she could look at it. So she could see it and help her with her memory of the incident.”
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Tarantino also describes how he felt when he witnessed Thurman’s car veer off the road and smash into a tree. “Just horrible. Watching her fight for the wheel… remembering me hammering about how it was safe and she could do it. Emphasizing that it was a straight road, a straight road… the fact that she believed me, and I literally watched this little S curve pop up,” Tarantino admitted. “And it spins her like a top.”
In fact, Tarantino admits the crash caused a rift between him and Thurman. “It affected me and Uma for the next two to three years,” he said. “It wasn’t like we didn’t talk. But a trust was broken.”
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Tarantino also reveals that after then-girlfriend Mira Sorvino confided to him about her experiences with Weinstein, he began to see a pattern emerge when Thurman told him her Weinstein story.
“While we were getting ready to do Kill Bill, Uma tells me that he had done the same thing to her,” Tarantino said. “That was when I realized there was a pattern, in Harvey’s luring and pushing attacks. So I made Harvey apologize to Uma. In the Maureen Dowd article it says, that is when Quentin confronted Harvey? Well, my confrontation was saying, you have to go to Uma. This happened. You have to apologize to her and she has to accept your apology, if we’re going to do Kill Bill together.”
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