Vivica A. Fox appeared as Deadly Viper Assassination Squad member Vernita Green in Volumes I and II of Quentin Tarantino’s revenge thriller Kill Bill.
But the 55-year-old actress revealed in an interview with TooFab on Tuesday that co-star Uma Thurman gave her ‘a wonderful piece of advice’ on set that helped her cope with Tarantino and his often frustrating pursuit of perfection.
‘Uma later pulled me to the side — and I love her for this — she said, “Vivica, you can get whatever you want, but you have to realize he has the power to fire you and Quentin ain’t no joke.”‘
Thurman instructed Fox to be ‘more manipulative’ with Tarantino instead of being ‘like a bull in the china store, just knocking everything over, talking out of turn and doing too much.’
Work smart, not hard: Vivica A. Fox revealed in an interview with TooFab on Tuesday that Kill Bill co-star Uma Thurman gave her ‘a wonderful piece of advice’ on set that helped her cope with director Quentin Tarantino and his often frustrating pursuit of perfection; the trio pictured in 2003
‘Sweetheart, you can get whatever you want in life but learn to be more manipulative,’ concluded the 49-year-old actress.
Uma’s words of wisdom came after Fox had publicly called out Quentin during one of the cast’s many mixed marital arts training sessions.
‘We were training for Kill Bill and Quentin was getting on my nerves, baby, because every Friday he would critique you,’ explained Fox.
Assassin: Vivica A. Fox appeared as Deadly Viper Assassination Squad member Vernita Green in Volumes I and II of Quentin Tarantino’s revenge thriller Kill Bill; Fox pictured in Kill Bill Vol. 1 in 2003
According to Vivica, Quentin was extremely picky when it came down to even the smallest of details, which eventually wore her patience thin.
‘And it was like, “You didn’t do this right, you didn’t do this right,” and I was like, “Are we doing anything right?”‘
Talking back to Quentin in such a forward manner caused the entire room to stand still in shock.
The only cast member that publicly backed up her sentiment was David Carradine who played the film’s title character. ‘We need some positive reinforcement here,’ uttered the late actor.
Taking power back: ‘Uma later pulled me to the side — and I love her for this — she said, “Vivica, you can get whatever you want, but you have to realize he has the power to fire you and Quentin ain’t no joke”‘; Thurman and Fox pictured in Kill Bill Vol. 1 in 2003
Fox has Thurman to thank for helping her reign in her guttural reactions, but she also thanks her own father for instilling in her the skills to ‘attack intelligently’ when things are not going her way on a set.
In terms of a third installment of Kill Bill, Vivica said that she has not ‘heard anything concrete’ but is patiently ‘waiting’ for it to come to fruition.’
In December of last year, Tarantino teased when he admitted that Kill Bill 3 was ‘definitely in the cards’ but was ‘at least three years’ away from entering pre-production.
Attack intelligently: Fox has Thurman to thank for helping her reign in her guttural reactions, but she also thanks her own father for instilling in her the skills to ‘attack intelligently’ when things are not going her way on a set; Thurman pictured in Kill Bill Vol. 2 in 2004
‘What I’m hoping is that they’re letting my daughter who was young at the time get a little bit older so that when [The Bride] said that thing, “If you’re sore about it, come find me,” I hope we come looking for you, girlfriend!’
As for how she sees herself fitting into Kill Bill 3, Fox said she ‘can just be in a flashback.’
‘I’m writing my own part right now. We could maybe see that knife fight scene,’ mused Fox.
Kill Bill 3: In December of last year, Tarantino teased when he admitted that Kill Bill 3 was ‘definitely in the cards’ but was ‘at least three years’ away from entering pre-production; Thurman and Chiba pictured in Kill Bill Vol. 2 in 2004
Volume I of Kill Bill was released in theaters in 2003 and raked in more than 180million at the worldwide box office.
The film’s highly anticipated Volume 2 picked up where the original film left off and hit theaters less than a year later in April of 2004.
Volume 2 garnered over 150million at the worldwide box office.
Thurman, Fox, and Carradine starred along the likes of Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Samuel L. Jackson, and renown Japanese martial artist Sonny Chiba as Hattori Hanzo.