Stunt Coordinator Speaks Out on Uma’s “Kill Bill” Crash –”At No Point Was I Notified or Consulted”

The Hollywood Reporter is exclusively reporting that he stunt coordinator on the Kill Bill movies has spoken out the allegations made by Uma Thurman regarding a crash during production that left her injured.

Coordinator Keith Adams told THR that he and his entire department were kept off set that day. Adams said in an email,

“No stunts of any kind were scheduled for the day of Ms. Thurman’s accident. All of the stunt department was put on hold and no one from the stunt department was called to set. At no point was I notified or consulted about Ms. Thurman driving a car on camera that day.

“Had I been involved, I would have insisted not only on putting a professional driver behind the wheel but also insuring that the car itself was road-worthy and safe.

On any set, my number one priority and the priority of any stunt coordinator is the safety of the cast and crew. For a stunt coordinator to do their job properly, they must be involved at every step of the process and given the opportunity to intervene when changes to the shoot are made.

“Unfortunately, I did not have that opportunity in this case.“

Thurman said in an Instagram post on Monday,

“The circumstances of this event were negligent to the point of criminality. I do not believe though with malicious intent.“

Thurman also told Maureen Dowd for a New York Times story,

“Quentin came in my trailer and didn’t like to hear no, like any director. He was furious because I’d cost them a lot of time. But I was scared.

He said: ‘I promise you the car is fine. It’s a straight piece of road.’”

He persuaded her to do it, and instructed: “ ‘Hit 40 miles per hour or your hair won’t blow the right way and I’ll make you do it again.’ But that was a deathbox that I was in. The seat wasn’t screwed down properly. It was a sand road and it was not a straight road.”“

In addition, video of the crash shows that the then-30-year-old ragtop was without roll bars, shoulder belts or head restraints.

Performers’ union SAG-AFTRA said in a statement that it,

“sounds like a stunt and would be a likely safety violation.“

Tarantino told Deadline,

“None of us ever considered it a stunt. It was just driving.“

And it was “just a wreck” too. A pretty bad one if you watch the video.

i post this clip to memorialize it’s full exposure in the nyt by Maureen Dowd. the circumstances of this event were negligent to the point of criminality. i do not believe though with malicious intent. Quentin Tarantino, was deeply regretful and remains remorseful about this sorry event, and gave me the footage years later so i could expose it and let it see the light of day, regardless of it most likely being an event for which justice will never be possible. he also did so with full knowledge it could cause him personal harm, and i am proud of him for doing the right thing and for his courage. THE COVER UP after the fact is UNFORGIVABLE. for this i hold Lawrence Bender, E. Bennett Walsh, and the notorious Harvey Weinstein solely responsible. they lied, destroyed evidence, and continue to lie about the permanent harm they caused and then chose to suppress. the cover up did have malicious intent, and shame on these three for all eternity. CAA never sent anyone to Mexico. i hope they look after other clients more respectfully if they in fact want to do the job for which they take money with any decency.

A post shared by Uma Thurman (@ithurman) on Feb 5, 2018 at 10:15am PST

(Photo, screen grab; via THR)