“My part wasn't as stunt-heavy as the other actresses in the movie, so it wasn't hard for me in that way,” the actress tells PEOPLE
Credit: Gary Miller/FilmMagic
NEED TO KNOW
- Uma Thurman told PEOPLE about how her Pretty Lethal costars impressed her on set with their stunt work
- The action thriller also stars Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Avantika, Millicent Simmonds and Iris Apatow, who play a ballet troupe whose bus breaks down before a competition
- “My part wasn’t as stunt-heavy as the other actresses in the movie, Thurman said at the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival
Uma Thurman was impressed by her Pretty Lethal costars.
The actress, 55, told PEOPLE about her experience filming the new action thriller at the movie’s premiere during the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 13.
The movie also stars Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Avantika, Millicent Simmonds and Iris Apatow, who play ballerinas in a ballet troupe whose bus breaks down on the way to a competition.
"My part wasn't as stunt-heavy as the other actresses in the movie, so it wasn't hard for me in that way," said Thurman, who plays Devora Kasimer, a reclusive former ballet prodigy who runs an unsettling roadside inn.
Credit: Adam Kissick/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty
She added that her costars’ performances were "mind-blowing."
"They did all their own dancing and stunts, and they were working together with a stunt team to create this incredible action sequence," Thurman said.
Credit: Courtesy of Prime
While the Kill Bill alum’s part in Pretty Lethal didn't require much stunt work, she is known to train hard for her action projects. In a past interview with The Times, she remembered drawing on her work in the two Kill Bill movies while preparing for 2025’s The Old Guard 2.
"Thank God for that, because I signed on quite late for this project so I didn’t have time to do proper training," she told the outlet in July 2025. "Fortunately I had put in hundreds of hours learning how to hold a sword."
For the Kill Bill movies, which premiered in 2003 and 2004 respectively, she trained for eight hours a day over the course of three months. "You may not be limber and strong. But if your brain has learnt how to memorize sequences of movements, you can get back in that zone," she said.
Ziegler, 23, told PEOPLE at the SXSW premiere that Kill Bill "was a huge inspiration for us" while making Pretty Lethal.
Speaking about Thurman, Ziegler said, "Her action fight scenes, her being just a badass woman, we looked to her for inspiration. When [director] Vicky [Jewson] had told me that Uma wanted to do it and responded to it, I was beside myself."
Credit: A Band Apart/Miramax/Kobal/Shutterstock
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“She's such a lovely person and so talented, graceful, poised and kind. I couldn't have had a better experience,” the Dance Moms alum added.
The cast later told PEOPLE at the Ballet-Fu Class at Broadway Dance Center in New York City about the gifts Thurman gave them at the end of shooting.
"She got us yarn and knitting needles. It was very sweet," said Apatow, 23.
Ziegler shared that inspiration for the gift came from Thurman "making her own sweater" during production.
"She basically was just like, I had to find my way to self-soothe. Just being in this industry, you have to find ways to be still and calm. And so that's her sort of meditation. She wanted us to experience that and give us a little reminder of that," Ziegler said.
Pretty Lethal is out now on Prime Video.
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