13 Things You Never Knew About 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1' on its 15th Anniversary
15 years ago, Quentin Tarantino delivered what many consider to be one of the finest martial arts movies of all time in "Kill Bill: Vol. 1." It is also considered one of Tarantino's best.
It's a movie that's certainly held up over the years. From the movie's unusual influences to a bit of Tarantino universe connectivity, here are some fun facts you might not know about "Kill Bill."
1. The film's original tagline was "In 2003, Uma Thurman Will Kill Bill,": which technically became untrue after the film was split into two parts and the second half was pushed back to 2004.
2. The Bride's distinctive yellow and black outfit was designed as an homage to Bruce Lee's iconic costume in 1979's "Game of Death."
3. While the shift to black and white footage during the final battle is a stylistic homage to classic martial arts films, it was also necessary in order for the film to achieve an R-rating in the US. The Japanese version of "Kill Bill" doesn't include that color change.
4. Originally, the Gogo Yubari character was written as twin assassins named Gogo and Yuki.
5. The sunglasses The Bride takes from Buck should be familiar to Tarantino fans. They were previously worn by Christian Slater in 1993's "True Romance."
6. The tune whistled by Daryl Hannah's Elle is the theme music from 1968's "Twisted Nerve."
7. The sequence where The Bride slices a baseball in half was achieved naturally, with no visual effects or trickery. However, it was stuntwoman Zoe Bell, not Uma Thurman, who actually achieved the feat.
8. Apart from his hands, David Carradine's Bill is never actually shown on camera during the entire film. We only hear his voice and don't see his face until "Vol. 2."
9. Tarantino (above, right) has a small cameo in the film as one of the Crazy 88 members killed by The Bride in the climax.
10. David Carradine revealed that it was Bill himself who killed O-Ren Ishii's father in the animated flashback scene.
11. Elle's codename "California Mountain Kingsnake" is the only one not named after a venomous snake. That's intentional, reflecting her failed attempt to poison The Bride in the hospital.
12. Exactly four minutes and 59 seconds pass between O-Ren's threat of "You won't last five minutes," and the end of her fight with The Bride.
13. Between "Kill Bill" and its sequel, over 450 gallons of fake blood were used during production.