Stunts › Sequences › Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) ›
House of Blue Leaves (Crazy 88)
The Bride versus the Crazy 88 — fifteen minutes of continuous sword choreography in Tokyo's House of Blue Leaves restaurant. Zoë Bell performed the bulk of the rigged action opposite the eighty-eight performers, with breakaway katana props and full-body pad arrangements behind every set wall.
Credits
Stunt team
Double
- Zoë Bell(doubling Uma Thurman)
Performed the Crazy 88 choreography and the chandelier swing.
Rigging
Equipment + technique
wire-flying
Single-line pendulum rig on the chandelier swing.
Harness
Sit-harness under kimono lining; quick-release for the chandelier-drop transition.
Safety
Officer + bulletins
Bulletins observed
Rigging glossary
10 rigs used in this sequence
Each entry explains how the rig works mechanically and the safety bulletin that governs it. Click through for the full glossary detail.
descender
High-fall airbag
The standard catch for free-falls above roughly 25 feet. A pneumatic bag whose deflation curve absorbs vertical energy progressively rather than abruptly.
descender
Decelerator
The hydraulic ratchet rig used to arrest a high-fall in the last 6 to 10 feet, replacing or augmenting an airbag for daylight exterior work where the bag would be visible to camera.
wire
Wire-flying rig
The harness-and-pulley system that lifts a performer through prolonged airborne action — the workhorse rig of the post-Crouching Tiger martial-arts era.
wire
Descender wire (controlled rappel)
The single-line rig used for sustained vertical descents at narrative speed — the rig under most "elevator shaft" and "skyscraper window" frames.
References
Further reading
- Zoë Bell on doubling Uma ThurmanThe Guardianinterview