Ulrich ducked Quentin Tarantino movie offer

Sad But True: Lars let Kill Bill deal die
Ulrich ducked Quentin Tarantino movie offer – because he couldn’t understand script that had been choreographed to match Metallica tracks
Lars Ulrich in Kill Bill



Quentin Tarantino wanted Metallica to appear on the soundtrack of 2003 movie Kill Bill – but Lars Ulrich avoided giving him an answer because he couldn’t understand the script.

The drummer describes the move as his “favourite mistake” in a Newsweek series of similar stories.

And he reveals Tarantino choreographed the movie’s fight scenes to match the thrash band’s tracks Enter Sandman and Sad But True.

Ulrich explains how the conversation unfolded after he “facilitated” a dinner with the director.

“One of the most surreal 30 minutes of my life was having QT six inches from my face, eyes dancing, intensely animated, explaining in intricate detail how he had written and choreographed the two main fight scenes.

“Kicks would land on cymbal hits. Bodies would twirl along with the rhythm of the music. Tarantino’s next-level movie magic married to Metallica music – all turned up to 11.”

The drummer imagined himself watching the resulting movie 18 months in the future, enjoying “the greatest marriage between music and film the world had ever seen.”

But he came crashing back to earth after Tarantino sent him the “thick and dense” 180-page script.

“Page by page, I realised that most of this was written in a language that was outside of my realm of understanding.” says Ulrich.

“I had never encountered a narrative like this, set in, to me, a very foreign culture of martial arts and Asian myths.

“I just couldn’t wrap my thick Danish head around it. I wasn’t capable of appreciating its brilliance.”

As a result he ignored his gut instinct, and instead of giving Tarantino permission to use the tracks, he simply ignored the offer.

“In the end I never got back to him,” Ulrich admits. “Probably the single biggest mistake I’ve made in the creative department.

“To this day I worship the ground QT walks on. If only…”