11 Things We Learned From Quentin Tarantino On Joe Rogan Experience

6. The True Insanity Of Zoë Bell's Big Death Proof Stunt

The Joe Rogan Experience Quentin Tarantino
Dimension Films

Having come to Tarantino's attention in the Double Dare documentary on stuntwomen, Zoë Bell found herself cast at Uma Thurman's stunt double for Tarantino's tandem of Kill Bill pictures. And so impressed with Bell was QT, he then cast the New Zealander as essentially herself in one of the lead roles of Death Proof.

While Bell was primarily acting in Death Proof, she famously also did some hefty stunts as part of her role in the picture - and on The Joe Rogan Experience, Tarantino detailed just how insane it was to shoot the scene where Bell does the "Ship's Mast" act of holding the hood of our protagonists' Dodge Charger while it speeds along.

After explaining how the slowest the Charger was going through these scenes was 60 or 70 mph, QT elaborated:

"The thing about it, she had a little help. One of the things she was, she had a... it helps her if everything goes well, it hurts her if things go sideways. She had a metal cable that was attached to her, like, by the button of her pants. And that cable went through the hood, back into the backseat, and then there was a stunt guy holding the cable. So it's not an automatic thing, no, he's holding the cable. He's giving her more cable when she needs it, and he's holding tight when she doesn't. But if the car flipped over or the car did anything like that, the cable would've killed her."

As Joe Rogan gasped in shock, Tarantino continued:

"When we're doing it, it's 60, 70, 80 or 90 mph. And if you look at it, if the camera is in front of the car, which it was a lot of the times, that means if Zoë is going 80 mph an hour, that means the camera car's going 90 mph. If Zoë is going 90 mph, that means the camera car is going 110 mph."

Absolutely. F**king. Nuts.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.