Kill Bill Volume One

AICN further reports that Thurman will begin training for her role next spring, with filming to begin in the summer of 2002. The movie will likely come out in theaters sometime in 2003.

[Originally appeared on Aint It Cool News.]

January 8, 2002... We received some anonymous information about the Kill Bill movie project from someone who wishes to remain anonymous. Hey, we're cool with that.

1. We're told the character of The Bride (Uma Thurman) is pregnant with child when she's thrusted into the coma, thus losing the child.

2. Michael Madsen's character is called Budd (also known as "Sidewinder"), who also happens to be Uma's brother in the picture.

3. Our scooper has been led to believe that the Billy Idol song White Wedding will be the film's intro tune.

4. Patricia Arquette will either be playing Elle Driver or Vernita Green.

5. American Pie's Jason Biggs is up for a role.

[They like to be anonymous.]

January 9, 2002... "Your scooper got some of it right. Madsen is signed and sealed. Beatty has the script now and likes it but he has a hard time signing onto projects. And Biggs will be playing Bill's son. The announcements are in no rush since shooting won't start for a couple of weeks so Uma can have her baby. Quentin is really gun ho about this and especially after Uma tested."

[Submitted by 'Lance Storm'. That's gotta be an alias, or he works in adult movies.]

January 22, 2002... Reuters news service is reporting that Daryl Hannah (Blade Runner, Dancing at the Blue Iguana) has landed a role in Kill Bill as an assassin. [Scooped by 'Pasty' first.]

March 15, 2002... Variety is reporting that Daryl Hannah has indeed signed on to play Uma's nemesis and Lucy Liu is in final talks to play Oren Ishi, Queen of the Tokyo Yakuza. Jacqueline Bisset is also rumored to be contemplating a role. The film will start shooting in June and locations include California, China, Japan and Mexico. [Reported by Mr. Black; originally appeared in Variety.]

March 28, 2002... Warren Beatty has dropped out of starring in Kill Bill, citing a lack of time in his schedule. Now the talk is David Carradine (the star of the 70's TV series Kung Fu) is in discussions to play the important part. [Source: The Hollywood Reporter.]

May 21, 2002... Tuesday Night Movie Club's Deadpool has published a script review of Kill Bill. Deadpool gives the script a positive review. "Kind of strange but the 21st Century version of QT is definitely fascinating," writes the TNMC columnist. "Nine years after his tour de force, we'll finally witness a different side of his cinematic vision."

Read Deadpool's full script review here. Character names and some dialogue are contained in the article. [First appeared on TNMC.]

September 16, 2002... Five of the first stills from the production (which is now filming in China) have gone up at Time Asia's website. The photos show the spectacular swordfight between The Bride and the Crazy 88s inside the House of the Blue Leaves. As well, there's an on-set article by the Time reporter describing the atmosphere, speaking with Tarantino and the differences between filming in China versus the States. [First at Time Asia.]

September 18, 2002... Spy pics from the Pasadena set of Kill Bill are now up at the Kill Bill newspage. [Scooped
by Alex Ward.]

October 3, 2002... Black Label Games, a games studio owned by Vivendi Universal Publishing, has announced that it has signed an agreement to license the interactive rights to Tarantino's Kill Bill film. Black Label will begin designing at least one video game based on the film, with Quentin Tarantino serving as a creative consultant on its development. Tarantino will also be providing exclusive footage during the shooting of Kill Bill to be used for the game's development. The ETA for the game is the second quarter of 2004 when Kill Bill will be arriving on home video.

""The combination of our creative and technology teams coupled with Quentin's vision promises to deliver a high-quality interactive entertainment experience," said Jim Wilson, president of Black Label Games. "We are excited to extend this innovative franchise into an action game featuring a unique cast of female characters that will appeal to gamers everywhere."

[Taken from the Black Label press release (and Sebastian Haselbeck helped out too).]

November 25, 2002... The Unofficial Kill Bill Homepage website has a new crop of pics of the film's chapel set. You should also see the shots of the Deadly Vipers in action, the Pussy Mobile and shots of Quentin and Uma in-between takes. [Scoop sent in by Sebastian Haselbeck.]

December 19, 2002... Miramax Films has announced that a teaser trailer for Kill Bill will be exclusively attached to prints of Gangs of New York, opening in theaters tomorrow. [Taken from the Miramax press release.]

December 24, 2002... There might not be much there but the
official website for Kill Bill is online. [Scoop sent in by Sebastian.]

January 3, 2003... That was quick. In about one week since its online debut, the official website for Kill Bill has updated. You can now download the film's first trailer, read a synopsis of the storyline and learn more about the character of The Bride and the secret of Hanzo steel. [SethGecko13, Mr. Black and John have seen Bill.]

January 17, 2003... The mysterious and masked individual known as "The Facer" has landed a big exclusive, namely the first review of an early cut of Kill Bill. The Facer gave the work-in-progress a negative review, saying that he disliked the performance of the film's star, Uma Thurman, and felt that the film was a jumble of action sequences. Ultimately he was left disappointed with the movie and even in this early stage of post-production, feels that the
completed film will not be well received by critics.

"If you want to see a better movie built around the concept of a string of fight scenes held loosely together by a plot, go rent The Warriors," writes TheF acer. "If you want to see a better movie built on the tired old plot device of someone battling bad guys who killed their family, go rent Mad Max. And if you want to see a better Kung Fu movie, rent an old Chinese one. Little smarmy white guys like Tarantino aren't the best ambassadors of Asian
culture, despite what fat geeks at comic conventions tell him."

To read The Facer's full review, click here. [First appeared at TheFacer.net.]

July 16, 2003... It was first rumored to be happening last week in the pages of Entertainment Weekly and now Variety has confirmed it: Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL will be broken up into two separate movies. The first part of KILL BILL will open in theaters on October 10, with the second to come out at some unspecified date.

Now the big question that everyone will be wondering is: will audiences pay to see a two-part movie? And how long will Miramax, the studio releasing KILL BILL, wait until releasing the conclusion? Variety also raises another interesting conundrum: will the contracts for Uma Thurman and the other principal actors in the film now have to renegotiate their contracts to factor a two-film deal?

If the gamble works for Tarantino and Miramax they could effectively double their money. At least the fans will get a three-hour jolt of new Tarantino crime noir action instead of just one trimmed flick. [Source: Variety.]

August 20, 2003... Earlier this week we got a look at the new North American teaser poster for KILL BILL, Quentin Tarantino's upcoming grindhouse style actioner. Thanks to our pal Sebastian at the The Quentin Tarantino Archives website, we've been treated to a look at the Japanese flyer promoting KILL BILL in that country. Sebastian also tells us that the image of Uma Thurman on one page of the flyer also serves as the Japanese one-sheet for KILL BILL.

And if you've been wondering what those Japanese characters seen in the background of the domestic KILL BILL poster mean, Sebastian also has that info. "The Japanese language signs in the back of the US poster are the katakana translation of the movie title, pronounced as 'ki-ru-bi-ru'," reports our pal.

[May a blade forged by Hanzo Hattori never seek your flesh, dear Sebastian.]

September 11, 2003... Yahoo! lands the exclusive debut of the new KILL BILL trailer. Featuring new looks at Quentin Tarantino's grindhouse revenge tale, the film opens in theaters on October 10. It's time to Yahoo!

September 20, 2003... Miramax Films has finally gotten the official website for KILL BILL open and going. In addition to hosting the film's trailers they've got message forums, a stills gallery and some very cool wallpaper. Info on the show's cast members, crew and locations are yet to come. [Miramax Films.]

Official Web Site:

www.kill-bill.com