Uma Thurman was seen as a total badass actress once she took on the action role of The Bride in the Kill Bill series. Those action sequences couldn’t have been easy, as well as anxiety-inducing, if you consider the physical demands of fighting choreography, swordplay and wirework. However, Thurman got candid about specific scenes that give her the most anxiety, and I’m surprised other actors don’t talk about this.
You would think working with weapon props for the Kill Bill movies or dancing under pressure for Pulp Fiction would fill Uma Thurman with anxiety. However, she got candid on The Tonight Show about what really sets her on edge during filming:
Eating when you’re acting is… First of all, you have to do lots of takes. Second of all, you don’t pick what’s on the menu, and you have to speak sometimes and swallow, and then you start to worry about choking because you don’t want to be chewing when you say that line.
All of these anxiety-induced worries about eating during filming are so spot-on! I’ve always wondered if actors ever have to suffer eating room-temperature food after so many takes or having to spit any out when the cameras are off. Stars clearly need to look to Brad Pitt, who tends to catch a bite in plenty of his films.
It’s also true that actors have to worry about swallowing their food fast enough to say their next line. After all, you want to be able to hear what they’re saying and not look like a mess when eating. When I chew my food in public, I’m constantly worried about talking with food in my mouth. I can dreadfully imagine that grossness being captured on film.
The Gattaca actress laughed with Jimmy Fallon when she hit the DSM checklist with a question about having anxiety while eating in front of people. Because of this neurosis, Uma Thurman got honest about a bucket list task she has for her career going forward:
A good eating scene should be on my bucket list of stuff I haven’t nailed. It’s like skinny-dipping or something, like one of those things you know that you haven’t done.
I never would have thought that eating in a movie would be a craft to master. You’d think other actors would have the same worries when they’re caught on camera mid-chew. If I’m to think closely about the eating scenes Uma Thurman has had, she’s eaten a wedding cake sample in The Accidental Husband, as well as plenty of goodies playing a food critic in the delicious food movie Burnt.
But the one eating scene that the one-time Oscar nominee has done that still lives in my mind rent-free was in Pulp Fiction (which is streaming on your Paramount+ subscription). As her character, Mia, went out to dinner with Vincent at the '50s-style diner Jack Rabbit Slim’s, Uma Thurman proved how seductive eating a maraschino cherry and a burger can be. In my opinion, I would say she nailed chewing and swallowing in the iconic ‘90s movie role.
It’s hard to believe that more actors don’t talk about their anxiety of eating in scenes. However, that’s why it’s good stars like Uma Thurman get more candid about this: to show even the most accomplished actresses get vulnerable during filming scenes like that. Maybe this will spark a conversation with other actors going forward. But if Thurman was capable of kicking ass in Kill Bill, I’d like to believe she’ll do eating scene she’ll one day feel comfortable pulling off. Just remember to chew and swallow!
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