Director Quentin Tarantino’s two-decade-old dream is finally coming true. The “Kill Bill” chapter known as “Yuki’s Revenge” is coming to life in Fortnite.
The animated short will also hit the big screen as part of a special limited theatrical run of “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair.”
Tarantino’s “The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge” stars Uma Thurman, who returns as The Bride and runs for eight minutes. Tarantino and Thurman worked with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, and used motion capture technology to transfer their performances to the gaming platform.
Speaking at a special launch event at his Vista Theater in Los Angeles, Tarantino explained how Fortnite and Epic Games were a perfect fit for “The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge.”
He said, “They gathered with me to talk about some situation where my characters and Fortnite do some kind of dance. So I came into the meeting thinking we were just going to talk about whether they wanted to license the characters, and they wanted my ideas on what would be fun to do.”
As it turns out, the powers that be at Epic Games had other ideas in mind. Rather than licensing her characters, they wanted to see if she had something in the eight to 12-minute range “that could be good for our purposes and make sure that your iconic characters are wrapped up inside it.”
As it turns out, Tarantino had something.
He had an entire chapter that existed in the original first draft of “Kill Bill”. “It never even made it to a second draft,” Tarantino revealed.
He explained that in the chapter, Gogo (Chiaki Kuriyama) had a twin sister and had smelled her that night at the House of Blue Leaves and she left early.
Due to pacing concerns, it never made it into the film. Tarantino said, “It was very crazy, very violent and a lot of action.”
He also sent the script along. Tarantino said. “I actually thought maybe the ship had gone that far, like making new material. I was wrong.” He added, “When I wrote the first draft of the script, one chapter was lost; to be honest, I didn’t think we could make it any further. And Yuki has been a figure of my imagination for over 20 years.”
Getty Images for Epic Games
Thurman surprised the audience when she joined Tarantino to explain how motion capture technology helped him bring The Bride to Fortnite.
The technology of Unreal Engine renders characters in real time. In capturing performances, it can test poses and expressions and see what reads best. And when it came to getting the voiceovers, the team had the actors’ facial data to help Chetan.
Thurman said, “Wearing a camera on your head is very unique, but I completely forgot about it; just started living in the moment of the scenes we were doing.”
Regarding this new way of bringing “Kill Bill” to audiences and telling the story of Yuki’s revenge, Thurman said she enjoyed it. “It’s a new audience for film.” He added, “It’s really inspiring. It’s really great, and I think it’s something that needs to happen.”
Getty Images for Epic Games
Lionsgate debuted a four-hour cut (281 minutes with a 15-minute intermission) of Tarantino’s “The Whole Bloody Affair” in theaters on December 5, which combines “Kill Bill Volume 1” and “Kill Bill Volume 2” into a single feature.
Thurman plays The Bride, who is left for dead after her former boss and lover Bill ambushes her at her wedding rehearsal, shoots her in the head, and steals her unborn child. To get his revenge, he must hunt down the four remaining members of the Deadly Viper Murder Squad before confronting Bill.
Lucy Liu, Vivica A. in “The Whole Bloody Affair”. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Gordon Liu, Michael Parks and David Carradine play Bill. Produced by Lawrence Bender, it is written and directed by Tarantino, and is based on the character of “The Bride” created by Q&U (Quentin and Uma).
With the crossover, Tarantino said, “I want both ‘Kill Bill’ fans and Fortnite fans to be absolutely happy with this collaboration.”
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