Uma Thurman Interview

IS THE RAMPAGING OVER?

Uma Thurman slinks into the London hotel room and immediately captivates everyone present. The stunningly beautiful star of Kill Bill Volume 2 is back in town to promote the eagerly-awaited sequel toTarantino's October hit. But this time she's without her director, the Q to her U in the team that created the character of The Bride, the vengeance-seeking heroine of both movies. Thurman is affable, laughs a lot and is clearly proud of both her creative contribution to the film as well as the final product. Not only that but she can easily cope without having her motormouth mentor at her side.

After dispensing of Lucy Liu and Vivica Fox in the first film, the sequel sees The Bride find her final two victims - Michael Madsen as Bill's low-life brother, and Daryl Hannah, the eye-patched killer from Volume 1 - before moving in on her prey in the form of David Carradine. But while the first film was hugely stylised with fast-cut martial arts sequences, the second is more of a sombre affair punctuated with trademark Tarantionesque outbursts of violence. More Sergio Leone than The Shaw Brothers.

One such scene involves Thurman being buried alive by Madsen, and relying on her martial arts training to literally punch her way out of her grave. Thurman is now able to reflect on the discomfort of shooting it. "Well it was claustrophobic", she says. "We shot it from every angle conceivable but in the end very little was used on screen so we increased the fear factor by using the raw sound effects." It's clear that she was prepared to go to any length to capture the authenticity Tarantino demanded, and as a result came away with "lots of bumps, fat knuckles, bruises - you name it."

While the two have a symbiotic, mutually successful working relationship, it's clear that Thurman still eyes Tarantino with some respect. "He's all talk, which I love, but when the talk stops, it's the moment of truth. He sees everything from the eyes of the audience, and everything about the whole experience of watching his films comes from that." In a similar show of affection, Tarantino recently declared that his muse was robbed in not winning the Oscar for Best Actress at this year's Academy Awards.