108 Fun Facts About Kill Bill

After waking from her coma in Kill Bill, the Bride lies in a truck willing which body part to wiggle?

Her big toe comes first: lying in the back of a stolen truck, she orders it to wiggle until her legs, dead after four years in a coma, start to work again.

Which actress plays the Bride in Kill Bill?

Uma Thurman and the director dreamed up the Bride together while making Pulp Fiction, and the credits attribute the character to 'Q & U'.

What is the Bride's real name, withheld until Kill Bill: Volume 2?

Beatrix Kiddo even lent her name to science: in 2013 researchers called a new parasitoid wasp Cystomastacoides kiddo, citing its deadly biology.

Why did filming on Kill Bill begin later than first planned?

Its star was pregnant, so the director put the shoot on hold instead of recasting, reasoning that Josef von Sternberg would have waited for Marlene Dietrich.

Who plays Bill in Kill Bill?

David Carradine, the star of the 1970s series Kung Fu, is heard in Volume 1, but Bill stays an unseen character until Volume 2.

The role of Bill in Kill Bill was originally written for which Hollywood star?

Warren Beatty was the first Bill in mind; he later said he passed because the long shoot in China would have kept him from his children.

In which city does the Bride confront O-Ren Ishii and the yakuza?

Tokyo's real Gonpachi restaurant was the model for the House of Blue Leaves, where the Bride faces O-Ren, and it came to be nicknamed the Kill Bill restaurant.

The wedding chapel massacre takes place in a rural chapel near which city?

El Paso, Texas, is the setting of the Two Pines chapel massacre; Texas Ranger Earl McGraw and his son Edgar arrive to find the bodies.

What has the Bride lost when she wakes from her four-year coma?

Her pregnancy is over, and she takes it that her baby has died; Volume 1's last line tells the audience, but not her, that the child survived.

Which actress plays O-Ren Ishii, the assassin who rises to lead the yakuza?

Lucy Liu plays O-Ren Ishii, beheading Boss Tanaka when he questions her mixed heritage at the council table; the role won Liu the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.

What is O-Ren Ishii's code name among Bill's assassins?

Cottonmouth was O-Ren Ishii's code name in the squad; the anime chapter shows her parents murdered by a yakuza boss when she was nine and her revenge at eleven.

Vernita Green, now a suburban homemaker, once went by which code name among Bill's assassins?

Copperhead was Vernita Green's code name; the Bride finds her living in Pasadena as housewife Jeannie Bell, and their fight halts when her young daughter comes home.

Where does Vernita Green hide the pistol she tries to shoot the Bride with?

In a box of cereal, a Kaboom pack on the counter, Vernita hides the pistol; the Bride answers the shot by throwing a knife into her chest as the daughter watches from the doorway.

Which legendary swordsmith breaks his oath never to forge again in order to arm the Bride?

Hattori Hanzō, who swore off sword-making, agrees to forge one last blade after hearing her target is Bill, his former student.

The Bride travels to which Japanese island to obtain her sword?

Okinawa is where the Bride finds the retired swordsmith running a sushi bar; he shows her his attic sword collection before agreeing to forge one more.

Which Japanese action star plays the sushi chef and retired swordsmith?

Sonny Chiba, the Street Fighter star, plays the swordsmith; the character's name honours the ninja Chiba played in the 1980s TV series Shadow Warriors.

What is the name of O-Ren's schoolgirl bodyguard, who fights with a meteor hammer?

Gogo Yubari, O-Ren's teenage bodyguard, swings a meteor hammer against the Bride; a cut chapter featuring her vengeful sister Yuki was animated for the film's 2025 re-release.

Which actress, who had starred in Battle Royale, plays the schoolgirl bodyguard?

Chiaki Kuriyama, Takako Chigusa in Battle Royale, was cast as the schoolgirl bodyguard after the director saw that 2000 film.

What is O-Ren's masked personal army called?

The Crazy 88, O-Ren's masked enforcers led by Johnny Mo, never numbered 88: Bill later admits they just thought the name sounded cool.

What does the Bride cut off Sofie Fatale, O-Ren's French lawyer, at the House of Blue Leaves?

Her arm comes off in one stroke at the House of Blue Leaves; the Bride leaves Sofie alive to carry news of the massacre and a warning to Bill.

The House of Blue Leaves fight took eight weeks to film on a soundstage in which Chinese city?

Beijing Film Studio housed the restaurant set; the director banned digital effects, so the blood sprays were done the old kung fu way, with condoms full of fake blood.

Why does part of the House of Blue Leaves fight switch to black and white?

To avoid an NC-17 rating in the US, the bloodiest stretch of the fight was desaturated to black and white; the Japanese release kept it in full colour.

Which Wu-Tang Clan member composed the original score for Volume 1?

RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan composed Volume 1's original score and shared the job on Volume 2; his group had taken its name from a 1983 kung fu film, Shaolin and Wu Tang.

Which Ghost in the Shell studio made the anime sequence telling O-Ren's backstory?

Production I.G animated O-Ren's backstory; the director told filmmaker Anurag Kashyap he took the idea of animating the violence from the Indian thriller Aalavandhan.

Which choreographer, fresh from The Matrix, served as Kill Bill's martial arts advisor?

Yuen Woo-Ping had made Jackie Chan a star by directing Drunken Master in 1978, two decades before Hollywood hired him to stage the fights in The Matrix and then Kill Bill.

The Bride's yellow tracksuit and motorcycle pay homage to which martial arts star?

Bruce Lee wore the yellow-and-black jumpsuit in Game of Death, left unfinished when he died in 1973 and completed with body doubles for release five years later.

Kill Bill's plot resembles which 1973 Japanese film about a woman avenging her family?

Lady Snowblood (1973), starring Meiko Kaji as a woman raised for vengeance, supplied the snow-garden duel and her song 'The Flower of Carnage'; Kaji also sings on Volume 2's soundtrack.

Why was Kill Bill split into two volumes?

To avoid cuts: the film ran well past three hours, and a producer known for making directors shorten their work agreed to release it in two parts instead.

How many months separated the releases of Volume 1 and Volume 2?

6 months separated them: Volume 1 opened in October and Volume 2 the following April, the same week Volume 1 arrived on DVD.

Which of the director's films, released six years earlier, immediately preceded Kill Bill: Volume 1?

Jackie Brown (1997) was his last film before the six-year gap, during which he began a war script that became Inglourious Basterds, then set it aside to make Kill Bill.

Which one-film cut of both Kill Bill volumes reached theaters in December 2025?

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair drops Volume 1's cliffhanger and Volume 2's recap so the story plays as one film, and adds a 7½-minute animated sequence never shown before.

How does Bill's brother stop the Bride when she comes to his trailer?

A shotgun blast of rock salt to the chest drops her at the trailer door; he then nails her into a coffin and buries her alive, setting up the Pai Mei flashback.

What is Bill's brother called?

Budd, Bill's brother, has fallen from elite assassin to strip-club bouncer and lives alone in a trailer in the desert.

What was Bill's own code name among his assassins?

Snake Charmer was Bill's code name, fitting for the man who led the rest; his brother was Sidewinder and Elle Driver the California Mountain Snake.

Which snake species does Elle Driver hide in the money case to kill Bill's brother?

A black mamba, coiled in the suitcase of cash, bites Bill's brother in the face; Elle then reads him the snake's lethal statistics from a notebook, a pointed choice since it was the Bride's code name.

Which actress plays the one-eyed Elle Driver?

Daryl Hannah plays Elle Driver, the eyepatch-wearing assassin who loses her remaining eye to the Bride in the trailer fight in Volume 2.

Elle Driver's look is based on Madeleine, the heroine of which 1973 Swedish exploitation film?

They Call Her One Eye, also released as Thriller: A Cruel Picture, stars Christina Lindberg as an eyepatch-wearing avenger; Elle's look and patch copy her.

What is the name of the death blow Pai Mei refuses to teach his students?

The Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique lets its victim take only five steps before dying; Pai Mei taught it to the Bride after all, and it is how Bill goes.

Which Shaw Brothers veteran plays Pai Mei, having already appeared in Volume 1 as Johnny Mo?

Gordon Liu plays both Johnny Mo and Pai Mei; the white-browed priest was not invented for Kill Bill, having already appeared in Hong Kong kung fu films such as Executioners from Shaolin.

How did Elle Driver kill Pai Mei?

She poisoned his favourite meal, fish heads, in revenge for Pai Mei plucking out her eye after she called him a miserable old fool.

What is the name of the Bride's daughter, whom she discovers alive at Bill's home?

B.B. is four when her mother finds her; the director has since talked of casting his star's real daughter, Maya Hawke, as a grown-up B.B. in a sequel.

How does Bill make the Bride talk honestly?

He shoots her with a truth serum dart, a mix he calls the Undisputed Truth, the name of a 1970s soul group, then asks why she ran from him.

In which country does the Bride finally track Bill down?

Mexico is where the Bride finds Bill's hacienda, after the retired pimp Esteban Vihaio, a father figure to Bill, points her the way from Acuña.

What job does Rufus, Samuel L. Jackson's cameo character in Volume 2, hold?

The wedding organist Rufus first turns up as a corpse in Volume 1's chapel; Volume 2 rewinds to show Samuel L. Jackson alive at the keys before the massacre.

Ranger Earl McGraw first appeared in which earlier film written by Kill Bill's director?

From Dusk till Dawn (1996), which the director scripted, introduced Michael Parks as Ranger Earl McGraw; Parks revived him in Kill Bill and both halves of Grindhouse.

Which director shared composing duties on the Volume 2 score?

Robert Rodriguez scored Volume 2 for a fee of one dollar, and the director repaid him by shooting a scene of Rodriguez's Sin City for the same dollar.

In a long-discussed Kill Bill sequel, which character grows up to seek revenge on the Bride?

Nikki, Vernita Green's daughter, who watched her mother die, was the avenger in the director's long-floated sequel; he wanted years of peace to pass for the Bride first.

Which NBA star adopted the Bride's code name as his own nickname?

Kobe Bryant gave himself the Bride's snake code name after watching Kill Bill and reading up on the animal, which he called a perfect description of how he wanted his game to be.

Volume 1 opens with 'Revenge is a dish best served cold', credited on screen as an old proverb of which people?

Klingon is the joke credit: in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the villain Khan quotes the line as a Klingon proverb.

The miniature skyline under the Bride's plane was left over from a 2001 film in which monster series?

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah (2001) left behind a miniature of Yokohama, which a coordinator who worked on both films had redressed for the Bride's night flight.

Which TV series' Quincy Jones theme blares whenever the Bride spots a target?

Ironside's Quincy Jones theme, with its siren-like sting, had already been borrowed by the 1972 kung fu film Five Fingers of Death, whose use of it Kill Bill is quoting.

How does Elle Driver plan to kill the comatose Bride in the hospital before Bill calls it off?

Lethal injection was the plan: Elle, disguised as a nurse, fills a syringe with poison, but Bill phones to call it off, saying killing a helpless woman would lower them.

How does the Bride break out of the coffin after being buried alive?

She punches through the wood with the close-range strike Pai Mei made her practise on a plank from inches away, then claws her way up through the earth.

A House of Blue Leaves employee is nicknamed after which cartoon figure?

Charlie Brown is how he is credited: one of O-Ren's gang gives him the nickname for his likeness to the Peanuts character.

Which song plays over Kill Bill: Volume 1's opening credits?

Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), in Nancy Sinatra's 1966 version, plays over Volume 1's opening credits right after the Bride is shot in the chapel.

Bill's brother, now a strip-club bouncer, claims he did what with his priceless sword?

Pawned it for $250, he tells Bill; in fact the sword is still in his trailer, where the Bride finds it and uses it against Elle.

Which Japanese band performs 'Woo Hoo' on stage at the House of Blue Leaves?

The 5.6.7.8's got the part after the director heard their record playing in a Japanese clothing shop and talked the staff into selling him the shop's own copy.

The Bride's truck, the Pussy Wagon, later cameoed in the video for which 2010 Lady Gaga and Beyoncé song?

Telephone's video, released in March 2010, has Gaga and Beyoncé drive off in the Pussy Wagon, which the director lent them; he had kept the truck after the shoot.

Which media player's traffic-cone logo turns yellow and black when a file titled Kill Bill finishes playing?

VLC hides the tribute as an Easter egg: its orange cone takes on the yellow with black stripes of the Bride's outfit, plus a blood stain on the base.

The animated Kill Bill short The Lost Chapter: Yuki's Revenge premiered in November 2025 inside which video game?

Fortnite hosted the premiere because the short was animated in Unreal Engine 5 using the game's own character models, with Kill Bill's lead actress back to voice the Bride.

In 2013, researchers named a new parasitic species of which insect after the heroine of Kill Bill?

A wasp was the choice because, the researchers said, its merciless biology toward its host reminded them of the assassin.

In Kill Bill: Volume 2, Bill compares the Bride to which comic-book hero in a speech about secret identities?

Superman is the odd one out among heroes, Bill argues, because the caped figure is the real man and Clark Kent is the costume, just as the Bride could never truly be an ordinary wife.

The chapel massacre that starts Kill Bill's revenge story happens not at the ceremony itself but during which event?

The rehearsal is when Bill and his assassins strike, so the heroine known to everyone as the Bride is attacked before she ever actually marries.

After capturing the Bride at his trailer in Kill Bill: Volume 2, what does Bill's brother do next?

Bill's brother buries her alive in a sealed coffin, but she uses skills learned from the martial arts master Pai Mei to break out and claw her way to the surface.

The Bride was dreamed up by Kill Bill's director and lead actress during the making of which earlier film?

Pulp Fiction was being made when the pair invented her, which is why Kill Bill's credits attribute the character to Q & U, their first initials.

Which Stranger Things actress, daughter of Kill Bill's lead, did the director picture as the Bride's grown child?

Maya Hawke was a toddler while her mother's Kill Bill part was being written, and in 2021 the director said he was excited by the idea of the two playing mother and daughter.

The actor cast as Bill in Kill Bill was famous for roaming the Old West in which 1970s TV series?

Kung Fu ran for three seasons with him as Kwai Chang Caine, a peace-loving Shaolin monk on the American frontier, and playing Bill three decades later revived his fame.

Why did Kill Bill's director postpone the start of filming rather than recast his lead actress?

She was pregnant, and he chose to wait, arguing that a director of Hollywood's classic era would have held a picture for his star in the same situation.

Which actress plays Vernita Green, the assassin turned suburban mother, in Kill Bill: Volume 1?

Vivica A. Fox plays the former assassin, who is living quietly as a homemaker under the alias Jeannie Bell when the Bride turns up at her door.

Which Reservoir Dogs actor plays Bill's brother, a former assassin living in a trailer, in Kill Bill?

Michael Madsen, the cruel Mr. Blonde of Reservoir Dogs, plays the brother, having earlier turned down the role of Vincent Vega for the same director.

How does the Bride finish the trailer fight against Elle Driver in Kill Bill: Volume 2?

The Bride plucks out her eye, the only one Elle has left after their old master took the first, and leaves her blind and screaming inside the trailer.

How does the Bride kill O-Ren Ishii at the end of their garden duel in Kill Bill: Volume 1?

The Bride slices off her scalp, taking the top of O-Ren's head, after cutting through her band of elite fighters inside the restaurant.

Which weapon does the Bride use to kill Vernita Green at her suburban home in Kill Bill: Volume 1?

A thrown knife ends the fight: the Bride hurls it into Vernita's chest just as Vernita fires a hidden gun at her, and Vernita's young daughter sees it all.

Whose near-silent performance in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly did Kill Bill's lead actress cite as inspiration?

Clint Eastwood plays the gunslinger Blondie, and she admired how he says almost nothing yet manages to portray a complete character.

Which American critic gave both Kill Bill volumes four stars and named Kill Bill among the decade's best films?

Roger Ebert called the two parts one masterful saga that was greater when seen together, and in 2009 he placed Kill Bill among the 20 best films of the decade.

Near the end of filming on Kill Bill, the film's lead actress was injured while doing what?

Driving a car she had asked a stunt driver to handle, she lost control, hit a tree and suffered a concussion and knee injuries.

What job does Bill's brother hold when the Bride comes looking for him in Kill Bill: Volume 2?

Strip club bouncer is how far the once-feared assassin has fallen: he lives in a trailer and takes orders from an abusive manager.

Whose truck does the Bride drive away in after waking from her coma in Kill Bill: Volume 1?

A hospital orderly's truck becomes her getaway vehicle after she kills its owner, Buck, who had been abusing her while she lay unconscious.

Why does Kill Bill's retired swordsmith agree to forge the Bride a sword?

Her target was his student: on learning she is hunting Bill, the master agrees to make one more blade and crafts what he considers his finest sword.

Why does the Bride let Sofie Fatale live at the end of Kill Bill: Volume 1?

To deliver a warning: the Bride spares her maimed captive and sends her back to Bill, after forcing her to give up information about the other assassins.

Why does O-Ren Ishii execute Boss Tanaka, a fellow yakuza leader, in Kill Bill: Volume 1?

He mocks her heritage and her gender, and O-Ren, who rose to lead the city's underworld after avenging her murdered parents, has him killed for it.

Kill Bill's crew created spurts of blood with fire extinguishers and which other everyday item?

Condoms were a practical trick borrowed from Chinese films of the 1970s, which the crew preferred to computer-generated imagery.

Which executive producer suggested splitting Kill Bill into two volumes once editing had begun?

Harvey Weinstein was known for pressing filmmakers to shorten their films, but here the split meant no scenes had to be cut, including the anime sequence.

Which studio, then owned by Disney, released both Kill Bill volumes in American theaters?

Miramax saw the gamble of two releases pay off: Volume 2 opened even bigger than Volume 1, and Disney later sold the studio in 2010.

At which awards was Kill Bill's lead actress nominated for Best Actress for both Volume 1 and Volume 2?

Golden Globes voters nominated her in consecutive years, yet neither volume received any recognition at the Oscars.

Which Jack Black comedy did Kill Bill: Volume 1 beat to top the US box office on its opening weekend?

School of Rock was in its second weekend when Volume 1 arrived and took $22 million, then the biggest opening of its director's career.

At which film festival did the single combined cut of Kill Bill first screen, out of competition, in May 2004?

Cannes saw it more than two decades before most audiences could: a wide theatrical release came only once the director owned the rights.

Which code name belongs to Bill's brother, the third target on the Bride's list in Kill Bill?

Sidewinder is his name in a team of killers called after venomous snakes, though by Volume 2 he has quit the trade and lives in a trailer.

What is the code name of Elle Driver, Bill's lover and the Bride's fourth target in Kill Bill?

California Mountain Snake is her handle, and her rivalry with the Bride was written around how physically alike the two actresses were.

A House of Blue Leaves worker in Kill Bill: Volume 1 is nicknamed after a character from which comic strip?

Peanuts supplies the nickname Charlie Brown, given because the man's kimono resembles the famous shirt worn by the strip's hero.

Zoë Bell, the Bride's stunt double in Kill Bill, had earlier doubled for the star of which TV series?

Xena: Warrior Princess had the New Zealander doubling for its lead; hired for Kill Bill as a crash-and-smash double, she was then trained in wushu for the fight scenes too.

Kill Bill: Volume 2 ended which film's eight-week run at the top of the international box office?

The Passion of the Christ had led overseas for eight straight weeks until Volume 2 opened in 20 territories and took an estimated $17.7 million.

Which studio gave the four-hour combined cut of Kill Bill its nationwide theatrical release in December 2025?

Lionsgate had bought the distribution rights to both volumes in 2023, and its release of the combined cut ran with a new animated short after the credits.

In which city does Vernita Green live under a new name when the Bride finds her in Kill Bill: Volume 1?

Pasadena is where the retired assassin has built a quiet family life, while another old colleague, Bill's brother, has ended up in Barstow.

Which editor cut both Kill Bill volumes, having worked on every one of the director's films since his debut?

Sally Menke edited all of his films until her death in 2010, and he described her as his only truly genuine collaborator.

Which Los Angeles revival theater, owned by Kill Bill's director, screened the full combined cut in March 2011?

New Beverly Cinema became his in 2007, when he bought the building to save it from redevelopment and keep its 35mm double features running.

The filmmaker friend who scored Kill Bill: Volume 2 as a favor asked to be paid how much?

One dollar was his fee, and Kill Bill's director repaid the favor by shooting a scene for his friend's next film at exactly the same price.

Kill Bill's soundtrack albums were released on Maverick, the record label co-founded by which pop star?

Madonna launched Maverick in 1992, and the first Kill Bill album it issued went to number one on Billboard's soundtrack chart.

The Lonely Shepherd, heard over the end credits of Kill Bill: Volume 1, features Gheorghe Zamfir on which instrument?

Pan flute virtuoso Zamfir first recorded the James Last tune in 1977, and it had already served as a television theme before the Bride's story borrowed it.

Which country legend's recording of A Satisfied Mind was first released on the Kill Bill: Volume 2 soundtrack?

Johnny Cash's version stayed exclusive to the album until American VI: Ain't No Grave, a collection released after his death, arrived in 2010.

Which Italian composer of spaghetti western scores has three tracks on the Kill Bill: Volume 2 soundtrack album?

Ennio Morricone supplies Il tramonto, L'arena and A Silhouette of Doom, and the film borrows more cues from his scores for The Mercenary and Navajo Joe.

The eerie whistled tune from the thriller Twisted Nerve, reused in Kill Bill: Volume 1, was written by which composer?

Bernard Herrmann wrote the whistle for the 1968 film, and Kill Bill's director later brought it back as a character's ringtone in Death Proof.

Which disco group's Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood plays during the Bride's duel with O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill?

Santa Esmeralda recast the song, a hit for the Animals in 1965, with Latin and flamenco touches, and the soundtrack album's cut runs to more than ten minutes.

Which former Sex Pistols manager contributed the track About Her to the Kill Bill: Volume 2 soundtrack?

Malcolm McLaren shares the writing credit for About Her with Rod Argent of the Zombies and the blues composer W. C. Handy.

Which Japanese actress sings The Flower of Carnage and Urami Bushi on the two Kill Bill soundtrack albums?

Meiko Kaji first sang both as theme songs for her own 1970s revenge films, and their use in Kill Bill revived enough interest for her to resume her music career.

The trumpet theme by Al Hirt on the Kill Bill: Volume 1 soundtrack was the opening music of which 1960s TV series?

The Green Hornet opened each week with Hirt's take on Flight of the Bumblebee, and the series is remembered for its martial-arts sidekick, Kato.

Which Japanese rock guitarist wrote Battle Without Honor or Humanity, an instrumental on the first Kill Bill soundtrack?

Tomoyasu Hotei originally wrote it for the 2000 crime film New Battles Without Honor and Humanity, in which he also acted.

Which horror actor, Captain Spaulding in House of 1000 Corpses, plays a minor role as Jay in Kill Bill: Volume 2?

Sid Haig plays a co-worker of Bill's brother; his turn as the murderous clown Captain Spaulding had revived his career shortly before Volume 2.