Marie Claire UK - 11.2019

‘HARVEYWEINSTEIN WAS MY

CHAMPION. HE HAD A CHOKEHOLD

ON THE TYPE OF FILMS AND DIRECTORS

THAT WERE RIGHT FOR ME’

andwhen she applied Chanel’s Rouge Noir to Thurman’s
fingernails, it sent sales soaring and turned the nail polish
into a cult product. But, despite the cooler-than-thou image
she was projecting as Mia, Thurman was overcome with
shyness when it came to the infamous dance scene
with Travolta. ‘I was more afraid of the dancing than almost
anything, because it was exactly my total insecurity,’ she
said. ‘But once I started dancing, I didn’t want to stop.’
On set, Thurman and Tarantino had conversations that
ultimately inspired his next project, the Kill Bill series.
He wrote the character of Beatrix Kiddo, aka The Bride,
specifically for her and waxed lyrically about Thurman being
his muse, comparing them to Alfred Hitchcock and his
long-time creative influence Ingrid Bergman. ‘It’s a special
bond that I’m proud to have and, hopefully, one day, people
will reference me and Uma like they do [them],’ he said.
Yet, unbeknown to the director, their professional
relationship had put Thurman in personal danger. The studio
that bankrolled bothReservoir Dogs andPulp Fiction,and
would go on to finance theKill Billseries, was Miramax,
co-owned by Harvey Weinstein. When a slew of actresses
came forward in 2017 to accuse Weinstein of rape and sexual
assault, Thurman was among them.

In a harrowing interview with theNew York Timespublished

last year in light of the #MeToo allegations, Thurman

described how, after Pulp Fiction was released to great

acclaim, Weinstein made an advance in a Paris hotel, then

attacked her in his suite at the Savoy in 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. By

then Thurman was already contracted to filmKill Bill. She felt

obliged to continue with the project, but regarded Weinstein

as an enemy. She also told Tarantino what happened. He

confronted Weinstein and asked him to leave Thurman alone,

not realising the full extent of the producer’s behaviour. In the

interview, Thurman also spoke of the guilt she carried about

continuing to work with Weinstein after he assaulted her. ‘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,’ she said. Yet it was obvious, like the other

women who came forward, that Thurman felt Weinstein had

the upper hand in his position of power. ‘This was my

champion... He had a chokehold on the type of films and

directors that were right for me,’ she said. Weinstein has since

denied assaulting her and other women.

Clockwisefrom

far left: the

infamousPulp

Fictiondance

scene with

John Travolta;

with Quentin

Tarantino as she

acceptsthe MTV

MovieAward for

Best Fight, in

2004;as

Beatrix Kiddo