Chicago Sun-Times – April 27, 2008

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No more killing Bill, but Uma’s still a rebel
MOVIES | Thurman pursuing different kinds of screen roles

By Cindy Pearlman
Source: Chicago Sun-Times

During her teenage years in Massachusetts, Uma Thurman, the butt-kicking star of “Kill Bill,” was far from the confident stunner she is today.

“I was pretty shy,” she admits. “I didn’t have much self-confidence. My character in my new movie says, ‘When is my life going to start?’ I felt the same way. I guess those are the restless years.

“I was wistful and then not wistful. I guess the big thing was I was full of questions. I think it was a particularly lonely moment in my life. When you’re a teenager you’re in a gateway between two worlds.”

Now 36, the mom of two and Oscar nominee for “Pulp Fiction” is considering teen life on the big screen in “The Life Before Her Eyes,” opening Friday. Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood play the character of headstrong Diana at two different periods in her life, with Wood doing the confusing teen years and Thurman the unhappy married mom decade.

It’s the 15th anniversary for a horrifying school shooting event at the local high school. Diana and her best friend are among the students who must beg for their lives when a teenage boy comes to school with an automatic weapon and starts killing everyone in sight.

“The character I play is quite the rebel,” Thurman says. “But I saw her as being misunderstood and lonely. She is really trying to figure out her life as a woman and she’s finding her voice. I think her struggles are beautiful and poignant.”

Thurman says that she found something in this story that struck a nerve. “It took me right back to my teenage years in a very touching way. The experiences of these characters weren’t my experiences. But I did understand their struggle. Then you transpose this random act of violence with the struggles of these girls finding out who they are, and it’s mesmerizing.

“These teenage girls are just trying to survive their day with all the pressures of becoming women,” she says. “Then in a blink they face this total insane crazy unknown.”

‘I just plowed ahead’

Thurman’s early life was pretty stable. “I grew up in Massachusetts and it was far away from what I thought were all the exciting places out there,” she recalls. “I did have a friend and we would just hang out and talk about life.”

Thurman says she’s not dreading the teen years with her own daughter Maya, 8, and son Levon, 5. “I’m sure they’re still tough years, but I’m not there yet.”

Thurman grew up with her father, Robert Thurman, a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University who named his daughter after a Hindu goddess. Her mother, Nena, is a Swedish model and psychotherapist.

“I always wanted to be an actress,” she says. “My grandmother was an actress. I started out in school plays and it just gave me so much pleasure. There wasn’t anyone there to encourage or discourage me. I just plowed ahead.”

Thurman began her screen career in Terry Gilliam’s “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” as the girl who stepped out of a big seashell.

As for not finding roles for women after they’re 30, she sighs and says, “I’m 37 years old now and you don’t have to make movies just for 16-year-olds. I don’t think you have to limit yourself at any age. I’ve found better roles now.”

You can nix her returning to killer form. Yes, there are always rumors of another installment in her “Kill Bill” series. “At the moment, there is no plan for another movie,” she says. “I do love that this film empowered women. I love when women come up to me and say, ‘I’ve seen the “Kill Bill” movies a bunch of times and it really made me feel stronger.’ ”

‘Ha ha ha’

First, however, she will star in the upcoming “My Zinc Bed.” “It’s about alcoholism and relationships and people being complicated,” she says. “I play an alcoholic and a drug user. It was a fantastic role and a really character.”

Thurman is also above the title in the summer film “The Accidental Husband,” opening on Aug. 22. “That’s a lighthearted romantic comedy. I’m a radio show relationship counselor — ha ha ha.”

Yes, she can joke about her own troubled love life. Thurman endured a painful breakup with husband Ethan Hawke. “I feel great now and very happy,” she says. “I just want to move forward with my life.”

Her life now is pretty simple. “I just like to hang out at home with my kids. I’m not a gaping hole of need.”