Kill Bill: Conception to screenplay

The concept of Kill Bill was concieved on the set of Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994) between director Quentin Tarantino and actress Uma Thurman. The basic storyline of the film -  a woman seeks revenge on a group of people, crossing them off a list one by one as she kills them - is adapted from Lady Snowblood (Fujita, 1973) a japenese film in which a woman kills off the gang who murdered her family.

Uma on the set of Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994).

The screenplay was written by Tarantino, and the character of 'The Bride' is credited as being created by 'Q' and 'U', obviously refering to Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman. Kill Bill pays tribute to film genres including the spaghetti western, blaxploitation, Chinese wuxia, Japanese yakuza films, Japanese samurai cinema, and kung fu movies of the 1960s and 1970s. The film features many references to other movies and even directly recreates scenes from them.The climactic battle at the end of the first volume between 'The Bride' and O-Ren Ishii is vertually identical to the one in japanese film Sex and Fury (Suzuki, 1973).

One of many references to old genres present in the film.

Other movies that proved influentual in the ideas behind Kill Bill include swedish film  Thriller - en grym film (Vibenius, 1973), japanese film Samurai Reincarnation (Fukasaku, 1981), and manga series Lone Wolf and Cub.

Matt.