Quentin Tarantino brings back a long-lost character Kill Bill chapter of life, and this time it takes place in the world of Fortnite.
The filmmaker has teamed up with Epic Games to release The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revengean animated short film starring Uma Thurman as The Bride.
For Tarantino, this fulfills a 20-year wish to revisit a section of the original script that never made it to the screen.
The eight-minute short film was made using Unreal Engine technology and motion capture.
It will also play in theaters as part of a limited run of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair.
Speaking at the Vista Theater in Los Angeles, Tarantino explained how the collaboration began.
Initially, he thought Epic Games just wanted to license its characters.
“They got together with me to talk about a situation where my characters and Fortnite are doing something pretty groovy,” he said. But when it arrived, they came up with something very different.
They asked him if he had anything around eight to twelve minutes “that might be good for our purposes and ensuring that your iconic characters are wrapped up in it.”
It turned out that Tarantino already had the perfect piece: a chapter written in the very first draft of Kill Bill it never went further.
Gogo Yubari was supposed to have a twin sister named Yuki. “There was never even a second draft,” he said. The idea was abandoned for reasons of pace. “It was too crazy, too violent and too much action.”
Tarantino admitted he didn’t think he’d ever get back to it.
“Actually, I thought maybe the ship had sailed that far, as if to make new material. I was wrong.” He added that Yuki was “a figment of my imagination for over 20 years.”
Uma Thurman also surprised the audience by participating in the event. She explained how motion capture allowed her to play the role of The Bride again.
Wearing head-mounted cameras and sensors, she said she eventually forgot the equipment was there. “I had completely forgotten about it; I just started living the moments of the scenes we were doing.”
Thurman loved that the project made history accessible in a new way. “It’s a new audience for the film,” she said. “It’s really emotional. It’s really awesome, and I think it’s something that’s meant to happen.”
Fortnite isn’t the only return of the iconic assassin. Lionsgate releases This whole bloody affair in theaters December 5.
For Tarantino, the crossover is meant to connect generations of fans.
“I want both Kill Bill fan and Fortnite fan are totally happy with this collaboration.
