Uma Thurman is the latest Hollywood star to level allegations of attempted sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein, revealing in the process how she was mistreated by director Quentin Tarantino on the set of the Kill Bill films.
When first asked about Weinstein when the news broke last year, the actress said that she was ‘too angry’ to share her experiences, and would come forward when she was ready to speak out. Now, she has told the New York Times that Weinstein (who produced her films with Tarantino including Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill trilogy) attacked her in his room in the Savoy Hotel, London.
‘He pushed me down. He tried to shove himself on me. He tried to expose himself. He did all kinds of unpleasant things,’ she said, adding that when she later confronted Weinstein about the incident, he threatened to destroy her career.
A statement from Weinstein’s representatives said: ‘Mr Weinstein acknowledges making a pass at Ms. Thurman in England after misreading her signals in Paris. He immediately apologised.’
The actress added that her feelings about the Weinstein case are ‘complicated,’ explaining: ‘The complicated feeling I have about Harvey is how bad I feel about all the women that were attacked after I was.’
‘I am one of the reasons that a young girl would walk into his room alone, the way I did. Quentin used Harvey as the executive producer of Kill Bill, a movie that symbolises female empowerment. And all these lambs walked into slaughter because they were convinced nobody rises to such a position who would do something illegal to you, but they do.’
‘I stand as a person who was subjected to it and a person who was then also part of the cloud cover, so that’s a super weird split to have,’ she continued.
Uma also accused director Quentin Tarantino of encouraging an unsafe environment during the filming of Kill Bill 2, resulting in a car accident that has left permanent damage.
Tarantino asked the star to drive her character’s blue convertible in order to achieve a particular shot, despite her believing that the vehicle was unsafe and preferring to use a stunt driver.
‘It was a deathbox that I was in,’ she said. The seat wasn’t screwed down properly. It was a sand road and not a straight road.’
She eventually crashed the car into a palm tree, and was taken to hospital where she was fitted with a ‘neck brace’ and her ‘knees damaged.’ Footage of the crash - which the actress says she has spent 15 years trying to obtain - is included in the New York Times profile.
‘Harvey assaulted me but that didn’t kill me,’ she said. ‘What really go me about the crash was that it was a cheap shot. I had been through so many rings of fire by that point.'
Last year, Tarantino revealed that he had long been aware of some of the sexual assault allegations against Weinstein (including those levelled by Rose McGowan and his former girlfriend Mira Sorvino, and admitted that he had not done enough to protect women.
'I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard. If I had done the work I should have done then, I would have had to not work with him,' he said.