This is an old article that was on Hollywood.com circa October 2004, which is no longer available. However, it is still of interest, discussing some of the props from Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill…
Prop Talk: Who Got What From Kill Bill’s Set
By Scott Huver, Special to Hollywood.com
Tarantino films are full of iconic objects–from the suitcase in Pulp Fiction to the various Quentin-concocted brands of cigarettes and booze that populate his films. It’s not surprising to learn, then, that some of the actors couldn’t resist taking a piece of the director’s Kill Bill universe home with them.
“I have my track suit,” boasts Uma Thurman (The Bride) who says she is pleasantly surprised at the confidence empowerment she’s seen in other women wearing the yellow suit at various premieres and events around the globe. “And Quentin has the Pussy Wagon. I just say at one point that my Pussy Wagon died on me, but really the director took it back to his house. It was supposed to be blown up in the desert by Elle Driver, but I don’t know what happened with that.”
“That is my car!” confirms Tarantino, although he did allow Missy Elliott to use it in a music video recently. “The Pussy Wagon belongs to me, all right? So they had to rent it from me. One of the cool things is when you do a car or a suit or anything really cool in a movie, they’ve gotta sell it when it’s over with, for like ten cents on the dollar. So I got it real cheap.”
Others in the film brought their own props to the world of Kill Bill. “I owe half of my performance to that hat,” says Michael Madsen (the assassin Budd) while sporting a cowboy hat he found in Mexico–much to the director’s chagrin. When I came back to California and I had to start Kill Bill, I said, ‘Damn, I’m gonna wear this hat.
“I started wearing it around the production office and to some of the read-throughs,” he continues. “Quentin was not really too fond of it, and then when we started shooting he was like ‘What’s with the hat?’ Through a series of conversations we decided that I would wear the hat, but he then wrote a character in the film to tell me to take it off. So then I HAD to take it off. It was a really strange thing, because it gave Budd kind of a sympathetic quality.”
Madsen admits, though, that now his hat is better staying on-screen than on his head in real life. “I probably can’t walk around town with it on now. I’d look like an idiot. But I have a couple of horses and I put it on when I go riding.”
David Carradine has no such wardrobe qualms–in fact, he was clad in Bill’s distinctive leather jacket when he sat down with Hollywood.com. “They came and raided my closet,” says the actor. “This is me. This is what I was wearing in the movie–this shirt, this jacket, not these pants, but close. They made three more of these jackets for me. I don’t even know which one this is. And I took them all home with me.
“Them and the swords,” he adds. “I didn’t GET to keep them, I just TOOK ’em. I have probably what is the #2 Bill sword. The number one disappeared sometime during the shoot. And I told them, if you had just let me take them home, I’d know where they are. They’re in safekeeping with me.”
“I have the Trans Am, I have the eye patches and I have my sword,” reveals Daryl Hannah, speaking of one of the gold, late ’70s firebird-sporting muscle car evil Elle Driver tools around in–although she’s not getting much mileage out of it at the moment. “It’s at the mechanic, because Michael Madsen took the good one!” (Madsen did not, however, mention the car to us).
And speaking of the car, the actress points out that Tarantino got to leave the set with another keepsake: his life. “I saved Quentin’s life, actually,” she says proudly. “We were shooting this one scene with Quentin sitting in the passenger seat, Bob Richardson sitting in the back seat with the camera in his lap, and me driving. We’re in the desert and just barreling down the road, 120 miles per hour. Quentin would yell, ‘Take a left on that dirt road!’ so all of a sudden I fishtail and he’s like “YEAH!’ Dust is just flying up everywhere, and all of a sudden I see this huge ditch, probably six or seven feet deep in front of us, coming up on us so fast. I’m like, ‘Oh, shit!’
“Quentin says ‘Jump it!’ I go ‘No!’ He goes ‘Jump it! It’s just a movie! Nothing can happen!’ But I slammed on the brakes and I skidded right to the end of the ditch. I’m like [breathes heavy] and looking at this ditch and realizing that I just totally saved everybody’s life. And Quentin’s like ‘Burt Reynolds would’ve jumped it!’ Burt Reynolds would’ve had a ramp and a stunt double and a toy car. That’s just so Quentin. He thinks he’s in the movie when he’s making it.”
Jason De Bord