'Kill Bill' Star Uma Thurman to Play Antigay Crusader Anita Bryant

There’s a certain symmetry to Kill Bill’s the Bride being cast as anti-gay orange juice crusader Anita Bryant in a film. Uma Thurman is set to take the titular role in the film Anita from filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet, Paragraph 175, Howl) according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The plot revolves around Bryant confronting her homophobia when she’s forced to allow a gay screenwriter into her home, according to THR. 

A former pageant girl and crooner, Bryant spearheaded the “1977 campaign to repeal a Miami ordinance banning anti-gay discrimination,” according to Alternet. After she won that fight she moved on to lobbying the Florida legislature to ban gays from adopting, which it did. Bryant’s 1977 crusade was featured in Gus Van Sant’s Harvey Milk biopic Milk. Bryant was also a spokesperson for Florida orange juice.

Besides kicking ass as the Bride in two Kill Bill movies, Thurman has played bisexual in 1991’s Henry and June and 1993’s Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Last season she costarred onSmash as a diva Hollywood actress who undeservingly lands the lead in a Broadway musical. 

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