Quentin Tarantino Didn’t Want to Do Another ‘Kill Bill’ Sequel Because of Uma Thurman’s Looks

Quentin Tarantino has floated around the possibility of doing another Kill Bill film. But the filmmaker hasn’t seemed to commit to the idea.

One of the reasons Uma Thurman said Tarantino wasn’t ready for a Kill Bill Vol. 3 was because of her looks.

How Uma Thurman helped Quentin Tarantino create ‘Kill Bill’

Tarantino and Thurman have only done three movies together. But those three movies were enough to have a huge influence on Thurman’s career trajectory. The pair first collaborated on Pulp Fiction, which turned Tarantino into one of Hollywood’s most well-known directors overnight. From there, Tarantino recalled forming a unique bond with Thurman that he couldn’t quite pinpoint the source of.

“It’s just this cool connection that happened while we were doing Pulp Fiction. I mean, von Sternberg had Marlene Dietrich, Hitchcock had Ingrid Bergman, Andre Techine had Catherine Deneuve. It’s a special bond that I’m proud to have, and hopefully, one day, people will reference me and Uma like they do the others,” Tarantino once told Rolling Stone.

This creative bond would help Thurman and Tarantino develop the first Kill Bill project. She’s been a part of Kill Bill’s inception as long as Tarantino has. They came up with the story’s concept at a bar during their Pulp Fiction years.

“And I even remember exactly what bar it was, it was in Santa Monica,” Tarantino once said in an interview with Charlie Rose. “We were sitting there drinking pints, and I came up with – I said, you know, I’m thinking about doing another movie, Uma. And you would be terrific for it.”

After Tarantino told Thurman about the film’s concept, Thurman began offering her own ideas for the movie.

“And she’s [Uma Thurman] like, ‘Hey Quentin, I have an idea – what about you see me, my face, it’s all bloody, and then the camera pans back, and you realize I’m in a bridal gown?’ And that’s where The Bride was born. That’s when she became The Bride,” Tarantino recalled.

Quentin Tarantino didn’t want to do another ‘Kill Bill’ sequel because of Uma Thurman’s looks

Years later, after Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, Tarantino and Thurman would finally collaborate for the Kill Bill films. But Thurman had grown a lot since she and Tarantino first conceived of the movie.

Thurman was now a young woman in her 30s who was a mother. This newfound maturity had small but profound ripple effects on her Kill Bill character.

“If I had written it [after Pulp Fiction], I probably would have based it on the Uma of that time: a 22-year-old girl,” Tarantino once told IGN.

Because of this, Thurman’s Beatrix Kiddo now had a daughter herself in the project.

Both Kill Bill films were critical and commercial successes. So much so that fans have been clamoring for a third Kill Bill movie for many years now. It’s been a possibility that Tarantino and the cast have been vocal about entertaining. Tarantino has had vague ideas about where the sequel’s narrative would go, but he hasn’t made any plans to develop the project.

This time, Tarantino quipped that Thurman’s growth was affecting another potential Kill Bill film in a different way. When Thurman once asked Tarantino about a Vol. 3, Tarantino told her that her looks caused the hold-up. At the time, Thurman might not have fit his vision of an older Beatrix Kiddo.

“Last time I saw Quentin he said I hadn’t lost my looks quite enough for him to make the next one,” Thurman once said in a 2011 interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

When Fallon shared that he thought she looked good enough, Thurman asserted that the problem for Tarantino was looking good.

“He wanted me to look worse,” she quipped.

Uma Thurman on the status of another ‘Kill Bill’

Tarantino has frequently said he plans on retiring after directing 10 movies. He currently has 9 films under his belt, which means the Oscar-winner has one more to go if he commits to his plans. Some may wonder if a Kill Bill sequel might be his final film. In an interview on The Jess Cagle Show, however, Thurman didn’t give much hope that would be the case.

“I can’t really tell you anything about it,” she said. “I mean it has been discussed over the years. There was real thought about it happening, but very long ago. I don’t see it as immediately on the horizon.”