Kill Bill is, like most films by Quentin Tarantino, a very stylish work. Not entirely innocent of this is the actress Lucy Liu, who vetoed the costume of her character, thus creating a small reference.
Who does Lucy Liu play in Kill Bill? The American actress portrayed the character O-Ren Ishii in Tarantino’s revenge epic.
The killer is not only part of the assassination squad “Deadly Viper,” but also becomes the leader of the Yakuza due to her ruthless nature.
Lucy Liu’s appearances in Kill Bill are memorable. On one hand because she is incredibly brutal even by Tarantino standards, and at the same time cunning and highly intelligent. On the other hand, because she simply looks cool due to her appearance.
But it wasn’t always meant to be that way. Lucy Liu revealed in an interview that Quentin Tarantino originally had a completely different outfit in mind than the one seen in the finished film.
A Reference Among Gangsters
What did the actress say? In a conversation with Vogue, Liu recalled the creation of Kill Bill. The kimono she wears as O-Ren Ishii wasn’t actually planned that way:
Originally, Quentin wanted me to wear something completely different, namely this kind of communist gray [outfit]. […] I saw something entirely different and simply realized that [O-Ren] exuded an elegance and femininity that I wanted to maintain.
Lucy Liu
Instead, Liu suggested an outfit that corresponded more to the character’s Japanese origin: a kimono. The first appearance with it in the film occurs at minute 53:09. In a scene showing O-Ren Ishii during a Yakuza meeting, she wears the kimono.
And indeed in black with a white undergarment. This is no coincidence. Liu explained in the interview that the choice of colors was made very consciously. She had suggested to Tarantino to orient towards Pulp Fiction.
There, the two characters Jules and Vincent wear black suits with white shirts underneath. Just like O-Ren Ishii, they are also killers.
The simple combination of black and white fit Liu’s character in Kill Bill and also served as a reference to Pulp Fiction. And there’s more: The main character in the film Lady Snowblood, which was a major inspiration for Kill Bill, also wears a kimono.
Tarantino was convinced by the suggestion, and thus we see O-Ren Ishii in these first scenes in the mentioned outfit. Later, when she meets the “Bride” (Uma Thurman), the look changes.
Black and white switch places – now the kimono itself is white and the undergarment is black. Consistent with this, the fight between the two women takes place in an idyllic snowy garden.
Lucy Liu believes that the choice of the kimono has changed the perception of the character. What the originally intended outfit would have looked like can be seen in the form of her accomplice and right-hand woman in the film, the character Sofie Fatale. She wears the simple dark gray costume that was presumably also intended for O-Ren Ishii initially. Another actress was not allowed to participate in Kill Bill, as she was said to be too good according to Tarantino.
