Quentin Tarantino has revealed he made Harvey Weinstein apologise to Uma Thurman for sexually harassing her.
The ‘Kill Bill’ director has previously admitted he "knew" about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct toward female employees, including Tarantino’s former girlfriend Mira Sorvino.
Tarantino has now told Deadline that Thurman informed him about Weinstein’s attempt to expose himself to her at the Savoy Hotel in London in the 90s and the ‘Pulp Fiction’ director told the producer he had to make things right with the actress before they shot the ‘Kill Bill’ films.
Tarantino said: "Mira had told me what Harvey had done to her. I couldn’t believe it. We were now boyfriend and girlfriend and he was staying away … Then, while we were getting ready to do ‘Kill Bill’, Uma tells me that he had done the same thing to her. That was when I realised there was a pattern, in Harvey’s luring and pushing attacks. So I made Harvey apologise to Uma. In the Maureen Dowd article it says, that is when Quentin confronted Harvey? Well, my confrontation was saying, you have to go to Uma. This happened. You have to apologise to her and she has to accept your apology, if we’re going to do ‘Kill Bill’ together."
Tarantino said Weinstein tried to down play Thurman’s claims at the time but he never believed the mogul.
The filmmaker said: "Harvey tried to de-emphasise things and say things weren’t exactly the way they were … I wasn’t giving Harvey the benefit of the doubt. I knew he was lying, that everything Uma was saying, was the truth. When he tried to wriggle out of it, and how things actually happened, I never bought his story. I said, I don’t believe you. I believe her. And if you want to do ‘Kill Bill’, you need to make this right."
Tarantino admitted he feels guilty for his complacency towards the allegations against Weinstein before they were made public. The 54-year-old director said he had put it down to misguided and outdated flirting, but looking back he regrets his attitude.
Tarantino said: "[My feelings] about how Harvey was able to do all the things he did? Oh, my God … I’ve already dealt with my … complacency … in chalking it up to this harmless form of … For some reason that now feels wrong, back in 1999, it was easier to chalk up what he was doing, to this mid-60s, ‘Mad Men’, ‘Bewitched’ era of an executive chasing the secretary around the desk. Now, it’s like … as if that was ever OK! One of the things that has happened in this whole thing is there is a lot of staring in the mirror. And thinking about, how did you think about things during that time? What did you do in that time? What was your feeling about things, at that time? I remember when Mira told me about the time Harvey tried to get up in her apartment. I remember being shocked and appalled and that that was going on in today’s Hollywood. The big question I keep asking myself is, when did that shock go away?"
Quentin Tarantino: I made Weinstein apologise to Thurman
