20 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Kill Bill Vol.2

Given the somewhat unambiguous title of Quentin Tarantino's two part masterpiece Kill Bill, we were all quietly confident we knew what was going to happen at the end of Volume 2. Here, however, is 20 things you (probably) didn't know about QT's brilliant concluding chapter.

CHECK OUT 20 THINGS YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT KILL BILL VOL.1

Images: Rex/YouTube

1.

At one point, stunt and fight choreographer Woo-ping Yuen was set to play Pai Mei, but could not fit it in with his choreography duties. He suggested Quentin Tarantino play the part. Tarantino trained for three months to nail the fight scenes until he found himself "dreading the idea of having to direct and act at the same time", so he turned to Gordon Liu.

2.

Tarantino then considered having Liu (pictured) speak Cantonese and that he (Tarantino), would provide the English over the top, imitating a bad dub job. He binned that idea giving Gordon Liu the chance to speak English in a film for the first time.

3.

Robert Rodriguez scored this movie for $1. Tarantino said he would repay him by directing a segment of Rodriguez's Sin City for $1. The end credits play out to a rock and roll version of "Malagueña Salerosa", a traditional Mexican song, performed by "Chingon", Robert Rodriguez's band.

4.

When the first grade teacher (pictured, top) takes roll, she calls out one real-life name: Marty Kitrosser. Martin Kitrosser has served as script supervisor on all of Tarantino's films.

5.

Ricardo Montalban (The Naked Gun) was cast to play Esteban. Unable to make an early read through of the script, his lines were read by Michael Parks, who impressed Tarantino so much that he won the part.

6.

Although Tarantino is known for using fake names brands for products, the brand of the bread Bill uses to make the sandwich during the "Emilio's killing story", BIMBO, is a real, popular brand of bread in Mexico. See that scene, here.

7.

While the assassins have snake nicknames, Bill is known as the Snake Charmer. His car is a De Tomaso Mangusta, a late 60s Italian sports car by manufacturer De Tomaso. The word "mangusta" is Italian for "mongoose", an animal that can kill cobras. It was rumoured that the car was so named because De Tomaso had talks with Carroll Shelby to replace the Shelby Cobra with a racing car to be built in Italy by De Tomaso, but no deal was signed. It obviously has its own reference in the movie.

8.

Usually after a test screening for a Miramax picture Harvey Weinstein (pictured) would distribute response cards to the audience to gauge their reaction. After the first screening of Kill Bill: Vol. 2 the test audience gave the film a standing ovation for five minutes. Weinstein decided response cards were not necessary.

9.

When the Bride first arrives at the hacienda, she walks past several hotel clerks in the lobby who are all out of focus. One of the clerks in the background is the film's producer Lawrence Bender. Bender makes cameo appearances in many of the films he produces: he was a police officer chasing Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs, for example (top left).

10.

After injecting the Bride with a truth serum, Bill interrogates her and refers to her as “a natural born killer” and “renegade killer bee.” Both are references to projects from the Wu Tang Clan and RZA (pictured), who wrote original music for both Kill Bill films.

11.

Vol. 1 has a lot more deaths than Vol. 2. In the first film 41 people meet their maker on screen, in the second only three roll a seven — Budd, Bill and Pai Mei. We never see Elle die.

12.

Daryl Hannah has claimed that the more slapstick elements of Elle's brawl with Beatrix were inspired by Jackass: The Movie, which Tarantino watched during the filming of Kill Bill.

13.

Michael Jai White (The Dark Knight) filmed scenes as Black Dynamite, but they were cut from the final theatrical version due to pacing concerns. A lengthy confrontation between him and Bill is the one and only deleted scene on the Vol. 2 DVD. You can watch it here.

14.

Butch’s white Honda Civic with which he rams Marsellus in Pulp Fiction appears in Vol. 2. in the parking lot of the My Oh My Strip Club. It also appears in Jackie Brown.

15.

Tarantino loves slipping in references to his home state of Tennessee. In Vol. 2. Budd uses as a spittoon labelled Oak Ridge Coffee. Oak Ridge is a town 15 miles outside of Knoxville, where Quentin was born.

16.

Darryl Hannah's reaction in the eye pluck scene (relive the horror, here) was partially improvised. The script called for "screaming" but Hannah goes utterly manic (as you would if you lost your last eye) believing it would make Tarantino laugh. It did and he kept it in.

17.

This brothel scene was the last scene to be filmed. Filming took place at an actual brothel in Mexico and the prostitutes weren’t extras, but actual prostitutes who worked at that exact brothel.

18.

Gordon Liu who plays Pei Mei actually appeared in Kill Vill Vol.1, as Johnny Mo, the head general of the Crazy 88, O-Ren Ishii's personal army.

19.

At one point the production team tested music over the Elle/Beatrix fight scene to see how it would feel with a soundtrack. Tarantino decided against the idea because, although the music worked wonderfully with events on screen, it "took the pain away" from the scene. "The score for that scene is the audience going 'OOH! ARGH! OH MY GAAAHD!" explained Tarantino in typical enthusiastic fashion.

20.

Volume 2's opening weekend gross was higher than Volume 1's, but Volume 1's total US and global gross was higher than Volume 2's.