Veteran and visionary director Quentin Tarantino once talked about one of the greatest stunt movies that he had ever seen in his lifetime. Bowing down to legendary actor Jackie Chan, the actor referenced his 1992 film Police Story 3: Super Cop.
Talking about his own iconic 2003-04 action kung-fu flick, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, Quentin Tarantino stated that the character of The Bride was inspired by Jackie Chan’s movie. In an interview, the actor stated that he took direct inspiration from Michelle Yeoh in Police Story 3: Super Cop and that is how the Kill Bill movies were made!
When Quentin Tarantino Bowed Down To Jackie Chan
There is no doubt that Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino’s iconic action flicks have become some of the most famous movies in Hollywood history. With Uma Thurman portraying the character of The Bride, out for revenge, the movie draws heavy inspiration from East Asian culture and Tarantino explained why.
Talking about Jackie Chan and his action stunts, Tarantino recalled the iconic 1992 movie Police Story 3: Super Cop which saw Chan and Michelle Yeoh take down a drug-smuggling racket, is probably Tarantino’s one of the favorite movies. Speaking about it with Far Out Magazine, the Inglourious Basterds director stated that the movie has the greatest action stunts ever!
“[Super Cop is] A film that I think probably contains the greatest stunts, and that’s even including Buster Keaton, the greatest stunts filmed in any movie ever. Look no further than Michelle Yeoh jumping a motorcycle onto a speeding train.”
The action scenes that are mentioned here were so lethal that Michelle Yeoh almost lost her life filming these stunts. During an action sequence, Yeoh was supposed to jump from the roof of a truck to the roof of Jackie Chan’s car. Stating that there were no preparations for these kinds of stunts, Yeoh revealed to Entertainment Weekly how she almost lost her life.
“The windscreen was supposed to shatter, and that would have helped me have a break. But the windscreen didn’t shatter, I had nowhere to hold onto, and I kept sliding off the car. All I remember was like ‘Duhn!’ on the ground. Fortunately, I didn’t go head first. Then I hear Jackie. He was like, ‘Okay, okay, that’s it! Enough! We are finished for the day! We’re not doing anymore! This is stupid! This is ridiculous! We’re not doing it!'”
Yeoh ended up falling on the road and narrowly avoiding two cars hitting her and that was enough for Quentin Tarantino to get inspired for a movie. As the interview continued, Tarantino revealed that he was inspired to create the Kill Bill movies by looking at Michelle Yeoh’s badass character from Police Story 3: Super Cop. Yeoh had also once asked the director about the Kill Bill movies.
Why Michelle Yeoh Wasn’t Cast In The Lead Role
Since the Malaysian actress was the direct inspiration for the role of The Bride in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies, Yeoh naturally asked the director the same question as revealed to Entertainment Weekly.
“[I] asked Quentin the same question. He’s very smart. He said, ‘Who would believe that Uma Thurman could kick your a*s?'”
Michelle Yeoh also revealed that it was Quentin Tarantino who came to visit her while shooting Pulp Fiction in 1994 when she broke her back in an on-set injury while filming, 1996’s The Stunt Woman, and felt that she would never walk again.
“I thought I broke my back. I thought I was paralyzed. I must say, Quentin, he’s persistent. 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.'”
In the end, Tarantino created the iconic movies Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 while Michelle Yeoh went on to star in the 1997 James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies.
Source: Far Out Magazine, Entertainment Weekly
