The Whole Bloody Affair Changes Explained

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has never been afraid to tease the movies he wants to make, sometimes before he’s even done a single stitch of tangible work on them. As such, the list of Tarantino films that never happened is a long one, and it unfortunately includes that increasingly unlikely third “Kill Bill” film. However, he did make good on his promise to put “Kill Bill: Volume 1” and “Kill Bill: Volume 2” together into the single epic it was originally intended to be.

As sources told Variety in 2003, the former — and now disgraced — Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein was known for wanting movies be as short as possible, a trait that earned him the nickname “Harvey Scissorhands.” He wasn’t fond of 3+ hour epics, while Tarantino isn’t the type of filmmaker to suffer those kinds of studio demands gladly. The compromise they eventually arrived at was that Weinstein would get two “Kill Bill” movies, each at his ideal length, and Tarantino wouldn’t have to cut anything he’d already filmed. Plus, Tarantino almost immediately starting talking about re-releasing the two movies as one anyway. 

In March 2011, the first public screenings of “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair” — Tarantino’s name for the recombined “Kill Bill: Volume 1” and “Kill Bill: Volume 2” — took place at the historic L.A. theater, New Beverly Cinema. The movie then more or less dropped off the radar for nearly 20 years, until re-emerging in 2025 for its first-ever theatrical run, outside of the theaters Tarantino himself owns. Tarantino explained that he wanted to wait until he fully owned the movie and all rights to the picture before he gave it a broad release. December 2025 will see “The Whole Bloody Affair” hit theaters across the country for the first time. Of course, this being Tarantino, “The Whole Bloody Affair” isn’t simply “Volume 1” and “Volume 2” glued together. Various tweaks and additions are part of the package, some more significant than others. 

Quentin Tarantino has always mixed humor with the genres he is playing with. It was made clear from the opening seconds of “Kill Bill: Volume 1” that it would still be the case, even when he launched a grandiose martial arts revenge tale. After a throwback “feature presentation” graphic and a few shoutouts to classic Asian movie studios, “Kill Bill: Volume 1” finally launches its story with an onscreen quote: “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” While the origins of that phrase are uncertain (but fairly old), Tarantino decided to have a little fun and attribute it to the Klingons of “Star Trek.” In his defense, the most recent uses of the word in pop culture — such as in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” — are how most people know the quote.

At any rate, that’s what was shown during the original U.S. theatrical run of “Kill Bill: Volume 1.” When the movie was brought to Japan, the so-called Klingon proverb was replaced with a dedication to Japanese filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku, who had died earlier that year. American audiences probably best know Fukasaku as the director of cult hit “Battle Royale,” but Japanese cinephiles — and Tarantino is certainly one of those — know that Fukasaku had a long and influential career that went back to the ’60s. In terms of “The Whole Bloody Affair,” the Klingon quote is out and the Fukasaku tribute is in, making this the official way that the saga opens, regardless of region. 

“Kill Bill: Volume 1” pulled no punches when it came to violence. In fact, it was initially in danger of receiving the dreaded NC-17 rating. Quentin Tarantino would probably wear that rating like a badge of honor, given that he grew up watching X-rated grindhouse movies — X being the rating that was used before the creation of NC-17 — and “Kill Bill” is very much inspired by that niche genre. So what would’ve been so bad about “Kill Bill: Volume 1” being rated NC-17? 

The problem is that an NC-17 rating severely reduces a movie’s reach. Some major theater chains won’t carry an NC-17 movie at all. Even among the ones that would, a lot of people still associate an NC-17 rating with the earlier X rating, with all the weight that carries. Back in the ’70s, an X-rated film may have been violent, but it more often indicated nudity and strong sexual content. Some filmgoers might stay away from an NC-17-rated “Kill Bill” due to that tradition. 

The creative trick that “Kill Bill: Volume 1” used to avoid an NC-17 rating was to simply have its bloodiest stretch — the battle between the Bride (Uma Thurman) and the Crazy 88 — play out in black and white. Having all of those showers of blood in monochrome rather than bright red was sufficient for the MPAA to grant the movie an R rating.

These days, the industry isn’t quite as picky about violence, and studios are happy to have a release that might get people out on an increasingly expensive theater trip. With that in mind, “The Whole Bloody Affair” is being released as unrated — which means that the previously mentioned black and white stretch of the movie will be shown in its original, full color glory. 

The point where “Kill Bill: Volume 1” ends and “Kill Bill: Volume 2” begins was already paced as a break in the story when the project was going to be one big movie. Instead of demarcating a sequel hook, it was to be an intermission, as Quentin Tarantino understood that people were going to need a bathroom break in order to sit through a four-hour movie. However, once it was decided that “Kill Bill” would be released in two volumes, a few tweaks were done in order to give “Volume 1” something like a cliffhanger, in order to tease “Volume 2.”

You don’t need to entice people to come back to finish a movie after an intermission, so the need for a hook is longer present in “The Whole Bloody Affair.” The original finale for “Volume 1” included a variety of clips and some snippets of dialogue from “Volume 2,” all of which are now gone, since it would be redundant to tease things that people are going to see in an hour or two. 

One of the biggest changes to this hook-to-intermission section removes Bill (David Carradine) asking Sophie Fatale (Julie Dreyfus) whether or not the Bride knows that her daughter still lives. In the original release, that’s largely meant to reveal the shocking twist to the audience — offering a tasty snare for the second film. For “The Whole Bloody Affair,” the audience first learns of the existence of the Bride’s living daughter at the same time the Bride does — when she comes face to face with her daughter for the first time after reaching Bill’s house at the climax of the movie. 

For as much grief as Quentin Tarantino gets for his movies being genre pastiches built from existing movies, he at least isn’t shy about giving credit to his inspirations. For instance, he gave a shout out to the specific film that led him to the idea for an animated sequence to tell O-Ren’s origin story in “Kill Bill: Volume 1.” Among other cool details (like key needle drops from composer Ennio Morricone), you might be surprised to learn his muse was a Bollywood movie, “Aalavandhan.” That film is a wild thriller about a troubled pair of twins, depicting its most violent scene with animation.

When Tarantino was first teasing “The Whole Bloody Affair,” he spoke of using animation to complete scenes he had written but never actually shot. This would’ve done away with any issues of actors having aged since shooting the original films — digital de-aging was not only in its infancy in 2011, but visible CGI isn’t Tarantino’s style. Sure enough, there are about seven and a half minutes of completely new animation in “The Whole Bloody Affair,” indicating that Tarantino was able to bring at least some of his previously un-shot content back into the film. 

These new sequences weren’t present in previous versions of “The Whole Bloody Affair,” so the contents are unknown. Rumors suggest they may flesh out the backstories of other members of Bill’s squad, in the same way the original sequence did for O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), but fans simply won’t know until December. 

While that wraps things up in terms of major tweaks and additions — in terms of what has been confirmed — it should also be noted that smaller alterations will exist throughout “The Whole Bloody Affair.” From inserts of previously unused shots, to new angles of already included scenes, those who have studied “Kill Bill: Volume 1” and “Kill Bill: Volume 2” religiously will likely be the only ones to benefit from the tinier changes in store for them. Quentin Tarantino wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s the type of filmmaker who would delight in knowing that he was altering things that would only be appreciated, or even noticed, by his biggest of fans.

As of now, the intention is to make “The Whole Bloody Affair” available only as a theatrical event. As Tarantino explained in an episode of his podcast, “The Church of Tarantino,” cinema loses something once it becomes a mass market product. He lamented (via Gizmodo) how disposable media becomes, explaining his fear that “The Whole Bloody Affair” will wind up “sitting on a stack of DVDs and Blu-rays that you get around to watching eventually … a month later, you get around to taking the plastic off.” He later reinforced how much control he retains over the film, keeping it special by not dumping it on a streaming services, explaining, “If you want to watch ‘Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair,’ it’s not a push-button away. You’ve got to wait for me to show it.”