Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman at an event (file photo) Getty

Uma Thurman has revealed why she fought with Quentin Tarantino for years.

Speaking to The New York Times, the 47-year-old actress said she was involved in a "terrible fight" with the director after he allegedly made her do a dangerous stunt in the 2003 movie Kill Bill.

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The mother-of-three said she has "damaged neck" and bad knees because she was forced to drive a blue convertible in the movie as they had only four days left to film the scene, in which she is seen driving the car to kill Bill, played by veteran actor David Carradine.

Thurman said Tarantino promised her the car was fine even though people on the set had deemed the car unsafe to drive.

While driving the car, Thurman met with an accident, crashing the vehicle into a palm tree.

Thurman said she was taken to a hospital, where she was treated for her injuries. After leaving the hospital in a neck brace, with damaged knees and a concussion, Thurman said she met Tarantino and they had an "enormous fight". She said she had asked Tarantino to show her the unedited footage of the scene and the wrecked car, but he refused.

She said, "I accused him of trying to kill me. And he was very angry at that, I guess understandably, because he didn't feel he had tried to kill me."

Two weeks after she asked to see the damaged car and the unedited footage of the scene, Thurman sent a legal letter to entertainment company Miramax, reserving the right to sue. She said Miramax offered to show her the footage if she signed a document "releasing them of any consequences of my future pain and suffering". But, she refused.

"We were in a terrible fight for years," she added. "We had to then go through promoting the movies. It was all very thin ice. We had a fateful fight at Soho House in New York in 2004 and we were shouting at each other because he wouldn't let me see the footage and he told me that was what they had all decided."

Unedited footage from the scene, which was released to Thurman 15 years later, showed her slumped over the steering wheel before being carried out of the car. "Quentin finally atoned by giving it to me after 15 years, right?" she said. "Not that it matters now, with my permanently damaged neck and my screwed-up knees."