Comic-Con in San Diego seemed a little light on breaking news, though there were a couple of bombshells dropped during this year's proceedings. There were also some pieces of news that somehow didn't make as big of a splash as one would have thought. One such announcement, if it comes to fruition, is the fulfillment of a decade long promise. The promise that we'd get to see Kill Bill as one, singular bloody affair.
During his panel with Dynamite Entertainment, with SlashFilm in attendance, Quentin Tarantino started talking about how Kill Bill originally had an extended cut of the anime backstory for O-Ren Ishii. After detailing why the sequence was cut and how it was eventually finished, Tarantino decided to drop the following statement.
The Weinstein Company and myself were talking about actually coming out with it sometime, not before the year is out, but within the next year with limited theatrical engagement as well.
A quick rundown as to the path that led us to this moment, Kill Bill was released in two volumes between 2003 and 2004, but it was always meant to be one, four hour long epic. Ever since the home video release of the film's two volumes, Quentin Tarantino has always teased that he wanted to edit the two halves back into one consistent whole, dubbed The Whole Bloody Affair cut of the film. In addition to being a complete reassembly of the two films, The Bride's fight with the Crazy 88's remained in full color in this sequence – garnering an NC-17 rating, due to the blood content. Also included is, surprise surprise, the extended origins of O-Ren Ishii, which has a fun bit of history behind it as well.
Due to the time constraints, as well as a fear that thirty minutes of anime in the middle of a live action film would turn off the audience, the sequence remained unfinished. However, once Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair came into the picture, Production I.G. -- the studio behind the animation of this sequence, as well as the film Ghost In The Shell -- finished the sequence without being commissioned to do so and using their own money to pay for it. The sequence was edited back into The Whole Bloody Affair, and the film was actually shown at the New Beverly Theater in 2011, but has remained elusive to those who were not there for that window of opportunity.
Extended "director's cuts" are usually a hell of a treat, as they can differ severely from the film that was enjoyed in cinemas at the time of release. Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair is the ultimate vindication of a film that still remains one of the most talked about entries in the entire Tarantino canon. To finally see this long fabled cut in a more audience accessible form, which will undoubtedly be followed by a DVD/Blu Ray release for posterity, is something to get excited about. Fingers crossed The Weinsteins fulfill their end of the deal and actually release this into theaters. We know how they can get when they think a film won't sell.
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair looks to kick some technicolor ass sometime next year. Or does it?
