Watch the new trailer for Uma Thurman comedy-thriller, The Kill Room

Bisexual director Nicol Paone, who wrote and directed the 2020 comedy film Friendsgiving, gives us a look at her latest film, The Kill Room, starring Uma Thurman.

Patrice Capullo (Uma Thurman) has a big problem, her art gallery isn’t making money. Gordon Davis (Samuel l. Jackson) has an even bigger problem, while arranging hits for the mob is lucrative, he and his ”colleague” Reggie Pitt (Joe Manganiello) need a better way to launder their money. A chance introduction through Patrices’s drug dealer has the art world meet the underworld, and a plan is hatched.

The one hitch: Patrice needs something to sell. With that, Reggie taps into his inner artist and makes a painting which immediately “sells” for an incredibly high price. When the noteworthy price for this new mystery artist accidentally leaks, the art career of “The Bagman” is born, attracting attention and press, something his superiors in the underworld are very unhappy with.

All the while Patrice has wrongfully assumed she’s laundering money for drugs. When she learns of Reggie’s true profession she wants out. A deal is struck. She can be free if she takes out an infamous Russian billionaire who’s been an impossible target to get for years. Fortunately, Patrice is aware of the one place in the entire world where the rich and powerful gather unprotected under one roof. The Miami Art Fair. Game on. 

Director’s statement:

“After spending two years developing the script for The Kill Room with writer Jonathan Jacobson, getting to escape into the world of this film in the midst of Covid, was an incredibly cathartic experience for me,” says Nicol Paone. “It’s become as much an exploration in storytelling and filmmaking as it’s become a lesson in authenticity and the permission to exist as a filmmaker in this world.

“To start with, one of the movies that inspired The Kill Room is Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas when you grow up in an Italian American household in New Jersey, where Goodfellas is on cassette tape playing AT ALL TIMES… But what truly inspired me to make this movie was the script’s captivating blend of two worlds: the elegant art cosmos and the enigmatic underbelly of the underworld.”

“I am forever indebted to Uma Thurman — her time, talent and mastery of her Uma-ness. And let’s not forget the extra touch of her bringing her yellow leather Kill Bill jacket to set, which I got to rock while directing. I am seriously thankful for the week I got to witness Mr. Samuel L. drop a ‘Mother Fucker’ right before my eyes and ears and is a memory I will hold over anyone and everyone I possibly can. And the stuff that came out of teaming with Joe Manganiello, is something that I am extremely proud of. The Kill Room would not exist without these three legends, and the rest of my awesome cast who showed up without asking for much.”

“The Kill Room— a tribute to the absurdity that sometimes passes for art—was not an easy film to make. It was akin to wrestling an octopus on roller skates. And I send this film into the world as a whimsical ode to the art world. After all, let’s be real – a banana adorned with tape shouldn’t be donning the same price tag as a spaceship made of diamonds. It’s a wink to the universe, reminding us to chuckle amid the artistry. Heh.”

Nicol Paone’s darkly comedic crime thriller The Kill Room, starring Uma Thurman, Joe Manganiello and Samuel L. Jackson, opens in theaters nationwide September 29.