The Kill Bill series is known for some of the most badass choreographed fight scenes on film. And the recognition is well-deserved considering the hard work and intensive training put in by the stars of the film.
The incredible physical shape of Kill Bill stars such as Uma Thurman and Vivica A. Fox did not come without crazy hours and months of intense physical training, dieting, and bruising. In a recent AMA, Vivica Fox answered one fan’s question on what it took to get into the physical shape seen in her fight scene with Uma Thurman. Fox responded:
Oh wow! Um... KILL BILL was an awesome experience. But very physical. The first 3 months we trained for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It was like the Olympics or something, okay?And it was tough. But then I also went to China for 1 month, and trained for hours a day, 5 days a week. So LOTS of training. But then when I came back, and we filmed it, and the fight scene, I knew it was incredible, even though I counted 30 bruises on my leg one morning - we were INTO it. They were battle scars, I was proud of them. And when I finally saw it on the screen, I thought it was worth it.
The dedicated Vivica A. Fox went through months of training, bruises and battle scars all for one scene. But, that one scene is arguably one of the best female fight scenes ever produced. Set in a clean and quiet suburban home, Thurman shows up at Fox’s doorstep on a mission to kill. There’s nothing flashy or feminine about the scene. It is a straight up brawl that shows the brute physical strength of these two badass females.
And that physical strength is not Hollywood-faked either. In the interview after the Kill Bill: Vol 1.footage shown above, Fox admits that she filmed 95% of the fight, with only the throw into a glass table done by a stunt double. She responds to a question about her training:
Yes. Six months of training. I learned Taekwondo, did a lot of stretching, a lot of core working out, learned to work the wires, it was intense. And then we filmed the scene over 4 days. So we literally destroyed a house in Pasadena.
It’s almost incomprehensible to think that most of these fight moves were learned and perfected in a mere 6 months. Not to mention, Thurman had just given birth before shooting. Fox reminisced on Thurman’s training process during her Reddit AMA:
Uma just had had her son! And I can remember at first all the girls were dropping weight so quickly, and she was frustrated because she was still breastfeeding, and I said ‘Don't worry, it'll come off.’ So she went to China for a month to film, and when I saw her again, a month later, I walked right past her! And she was like ‘yay! I got skinny!’I used to hangout with Uma all the time. I liked her kids, and they liked me. We would go bowling on our cheat day, and have pizza with the kids. It was an amazing, amazing experience. It really was.
It’s a relief to know Thurman and Fox got at least one cheat day, with pizza. Otherwise, all of that Taekwondo training may have been used off set as well.
