'Kill Bill' producer Lawrence Bender "deeply regrets" the physical and emotional pain Uma Thurman endured after she crashed while performing a driving stunt on the set of the movie.
Uma Thurman
The 47-year-old actress has blamed the producer, director Quentin Tarantino and his then co-workers E. Bennett Walsh and Harvey Weinstein for the incident in 2003 because she felt they forced her to perform the driving sequence, which she felt uncomfortable doing, and then covered up the evidence after the crash.
Thruman made the revelation in an interview with The New York Times newspaper revealing the accident which crushed her knees, left her with a concussion and required her to wear a neck brace to recover.
But Lawrence has denied hiding anything from Uma and is adamant the safety of the cast and crew he works with is "vital" to him and he would never put someone in danger intentionally.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said: "I deeply regret that Uma suffered the pain she has, both physically and emotionally, for all of these years from the accident that occurred on the set of 'Kill Bill'.
"The safety of the professionals who work on the movies I produce is vital to me and I never want to let anyone down. I never hid anything from Uma or anyone else nor did I participate in any cover up of any kind - and I never would.
"I was informed of Uma's feelings in regard to this incident a few months ago and have done my best over this time to get as much verifiable information from all of the relevant sources that I could and shared it with Quentin. I wanted to make sure she had all of the answers she had been seeking.
"I have great respect for Uma Thurman, both as an artist and a person, and only wish her well."
Although, at the time, she felt as though Tarantino had tried to "kill her" she and the director made their peace over the incident and it was the 54-year-old filmmaker who made the footage available to her after 15 years so she could share it on social media "with full knowledge it could cause him personal harm".
She wrote alongside the clip: he wrote: "i post this clip to memorialize it's full exposure in the nyt by Maureen Dowd. the circumstances of this event were negligent to the point of criminality. i do not believe though with malicious intent. Quentin Tarantino, was deeply regretful and remains remorseful about this sorry event, and gave me the footage years later so i could expose it and let it see the light of day, regardless of it most likely being an event for which justice will never be possible.
"he also did so with full knowledge it could cause him personal harm, and i am proud of him for doing the right thing and for his courage.
"THE COVER UP after the fact is UNFORGIVABLE.
"for this i hold Lawrence Bender, E. Bennett Walsh, and the notorious Harvey Weinstein solely responsible.
"they lied, destroyed evidence, and continue to lie about the permanent harm they caused and then chose to suppress.
the cover up did have malicious intent, and shame on these three for all eternity.
"CAA never sent anyone to Mexico.
"i hope they look after other clients more respectfully if they in fact want to do the job for which they take money with any decency. (sic)"
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