As a self-proclaimed Michelle Yeoh super-fan, it’d make sense that Quentin Tarantino would want the actress in his “Kill Bill” films, right? After all, Tarantino cites Yeoh’s performance in Jackie Chan‘s 1992 action comedy “Police Story 3” as one of the main influences behind Uma Thurman‘s The Bride. So, one may wonder, why didn’t Tarantino reach out to Yeoh when he made those films in the mid-00s? Yeoh had the same question, and after all these years, she finally received an answer.
In an interview with Town & Country (via Entertainment Weekly), Yeoh mentioned the answer QT gave her when she finally had the chance to ask him why she was never involved in the “Kill Bill” films. “He’s very smart,” Yeoh said, then supplied verbatim Tarantino’s typcally cheeky response, “Who would believe that Uma Thurman could kick your ass?” Case closed.
Yeoh and Tarantino’s friendship goes back a long way. In fact, QT is the reason Yeoh decided to continue acting after a serious injury on the set of 1996’s “The Stunt Woman.” Tarantino was in Hong Kong at the time of Yeoh’s injury screening “Pulp Fiction” and visited Yeoh in the hospital to convince her to stick with acting despite how badly she hurt herself. “I must say, Quentin, he’s persistent,” Yeoh continued. “He is who he is today because he’s full of passion and love, so he wore me down. Suddenly we became animated. So then I thought, ‘Maybe I’m not ready to give up on this.'”
If Yeoh had given up acting back then, audiences would never have gotten her acclaimed performance in this year’s “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” The A24 smash-hit, directed by Daniels, has grossed over $100 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing movie A24 ever produced. It’s safe to say that Yeoh will get a couple of memorable upcoming roles thanks to the film’s success.
As for Tarantino, he sings the same praise for Yeoh as she does for him. “I was just a huge, huge fan of hers,” Tarantino told Town & Country. “There was always a twinkle in her eye.” If Tarantino sticks to his current plans, he’ll retire from feature filmmaking after his tenth movie, leaving only film for him to make. Will he get Yeoh on board for his final film? Fans may not get an answer soon, as QT, as per usual, is caught up in a slew of different side-projects outside filmmaking. His new book, “Cinema Speculation,” Tarantino’s first published book of film criticism, hits books stores in November.
In any case, while Yeoh didn’t make it into either “Kill Bill” volume, be thankful that Tarantino persuaded her to stick with acting and give audiences more thrilling stunts to savor onscreen. Maybe a team-up between this pair would indeed be a poetic ending to Tarantino’s filmmaking career.