A stuntman who goes by the name of Stuntman Mike goes around stalking women and then kills them by crashing his stunt vehicle into there car.
Blaine: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez wanted to collaborate together in making a double feature with horror and action. They called it “Grindhouse” and it would show two different back to back movies that were written and directed by Robert and Quentin. Robert’s movie would be about this infection that turns people into something shitty and Quentin made a movie about a stunt driver who enjoys killing hot women. Quentin had wanted to make a slasher film, but it would have a car instead of a knife or a machete because slasher films involve a bad guy who uses a sharp weapon to kill with. Quentin had thought about having two groups of women that Stuntman Mike comes across and he wanted them to talk about usual stuff.
While “Planet Terror” was in pre-production, Quentin and Robert Rodriguez were talking about how it reminds them of a John Carpenter movie. They were saying how “Planet Terror” should have been a John Carpenter film as a joke. As they were talking more about John Carpenter, Kurt Russell came to mind because he was in John Carpenter’s “The Thing”. Quentin then thought about Kurt Russell playing the bad guy in “Death Proof”, Stuntman Mike. Quentin has always been a Kurt Russell fan and he wanted Stuntman Mike to be added to Kurt’s gallery of characters. Kurt was interested in being apart of “Death Proof” after Quentin told him about the plot and the character he would be playing.
Quentin had met Sydney Tamiia Poitier during a few auditions for his earlier movies and he knew that she was a terrific actress after testing her out and seeing what she is capable of. While Quentin was writing the script for “Death Proof", he had Sydney in mind for one of the characters, Jungle Julia, because he knew she would be perfect for that part. Sydney still had to go in and audition though and other women would audition for the part as well. Quentin informed Sydney that Jungle Julia is a music expert because she is a talk show radio host. Before principal photography began, they did a photoshoot and Sydney would pose for these fake billboards that were going to be in the film. The billboards represent Jungle Julia’s radio show and there’s one where she is wearing the “Kill Bill” outfit.
Quentin had met Vanessa Ferlito while she was doing the movie “Man of the House” staring Tommy Lee Jones. They became friends after that and kept in contact with each other. While Quentin was working on the script for “Death Proof” he had written a part for Vanessa as the character who is the odd girl out of the group and loves to dance. Quentin says that actresses don’t mind dancing in his movies after seeing how cool other actors make it look in his earlier movies like “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction”. Vanessa really likes to dance and both her and Quentin would choreograph the dance moves for the scene where she gives a lap dance to Stuntman Mike. She’d put her own moves into the scene as well.
Quentin knew Jordan Ladd through his friend, Eli Roth. Eli Roth directed Jordan in a movie called “Cabin Fever” and all three of them have been friends ever since then. Quentin described to Jordan that her character, Shanna, is a bad ass party animal and she got really excited because it sounded fun to her.
Rose McGowan went in to audition and both Robert Rodriguez and Quentin thought she would be perfect for Pam, the first girl you see get killed Stuntman Mike. She also got cast as Cherry Darling in Robert’s “Planet Terror” and that made Robert ask Quentin if audiences would go for that because she would be in the movie that goes before “Death Proof”. Quentin had a feeling that they would because she is an actor and actors are supposed to be transforming themselves into new characters. Audiences would see Rose as the former stripper now badass chick with a machine gun for a leg in “Planet Terror” and then see as a murdered victim who gets killed by Stuntman Mike. Rose McGowan had talked with Quentin on how Pam should look because she wanted her to look different from Cherry. Quentin was a fan of Barbara Bouchet, a 60’s German actress and so he felt Pam’s looks should be based off of her.
During the first forty seven minutes of “Death Proof" you see these girls talking about the usual stuff and dancing at bars and then something really extreme happens. The girls are in the car jamming to music and Stuntman Mike’s stunt vehicle is heading straight towards them at full speed. He turns his lights off so that way they don’t see him coming. Then as soon as he is close, he turns on his lights, surprises the girls and rams his vehicle into their’s and tears them apart. Shanna goes flying out of the car and slams onto the street. Jungle Juila gets torn apart and Arlene's face gets torn off by the tire as the stunt vehicle goes through the girls’ car. The first time I saw that car crash scene I said “Holy shit!!!” several times because it was so insane to watch. It even won the Scream Award for the "Holy Shit Scene!”
Quentin wanted the second duo of women to be more bad ass and to be the ones who defeat Stuntman Mike. Rosario Dawson described “Death Proof” as Quentin Tarantino’s bad ass chicks film. Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms are really good friends they both wanted to be apart of “Death Proof”, so before they auditioned they would watch Quentin’s earlier films in order to get to know what the world of Quentin Tarantino is like. When Rosario and Tracie auditioned for Quentin they read the whole script and Quentin felt like he was watching a movie. Quentin liked that both Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms worked so hard to make their audition look good and so they got cast as Abernathy and Kim. Rosario wanted to do everything in this movie including being in the car when it’s going at super speed when really she didn’t have to. Quentin liked the way Tracie Thoms said her lines. The reason why Quentin thinks Tracie says her lines so good is because her background is theater and she has had a lot of practice in acting. Quentin said that Tracie Thoms is like a female Samuel L. Jackson when she says her lines.
Zoe Bell plays herself, she’s a stuntwoman in real life and she did all of her own stunts in “Death Proof”. Quentin had worked with Zoe before when she was Uma Thurman’s stunt double in the two “Kill Bill” movies. Zoe thought she was going to be a stunt double when Quentin told her about his next project, “Death Proof”. She couldn’t understand why Quentin wanted her to read the script, but once she read it she discovered her name was on a lot of pages and the lines sounded a lot like how she talks. Zoe was in complete shock that she would have a staring role in the film. Zoe’s never done acting before, but everyone on set was very supportive of her. Quentin knew Zoe could do her own stunts because she is a stunt woman and she was very happy she got to do her own stunts because it’s in her blood. Being apart of this movie as both an actor and a stunt person was something big for Zoe and her thanks go out to Quentin Tarantino for doing this for her.
A guy named Jeremy, who I knew once, said that he didn’t like “Death Proof” that much because there was a lot of talk in it. It does have a lot of talk, but also these really extreme scenes like the car crash scene and the chase scene. And then of course the three girls at the end, Zoe Bell, Abernathy and Kim smack Stuntman Mike around with their fists….which is really cool to watch.
My rating on “Death Proof” is five out of five stars.
