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| Hateful Eight |
Back in 2012, writer/director Quentin Tarantino once again brought his incredible skills back to the big screen with Django Unchained. Telling the story of a freed slave who goes on a mission to rescue his wife from an evil plantation owner, the movie was once again a huge success for the filmmaker, and he not only received very positive reviews, but also an Academy Award for his screenplay. Naturally, we’re only more excited for his next cinematic adventure, which will be coming soon in the form of the violent new post-Civil War drama The Hateful Eight.
Seemingly mixing together elements of Reservoir Dogs and Django Unchained, and equipping the story with a brilliant ensemble cast, the film looks like it could be something really special. But what exactly is the story in the movie, and who are the characters we will be meeting? Well, for your benefit we’ve put together this handy guide, which puts everything we know about the flick in one easy-to-read feature. Read on to find out what we know about The Hateful Eight so far!
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Quentin Tarantino |
Fittingly, The Hateful Eight will be the eighth feature film of writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s incredible career (counting the two Kill Bill halves as one), but it’s a project that almost didn’t happen. While the filmmaker was doing behind-the-scenes work on the film back in early 2014, a draft of the screenplay managed to leak online. Claiming that he was personally betrayed, Tarantino said that he was going to shelves his plans for the film, and would instead consider possibly just publishing it.
During a long drawn out lawsuit with Gawker that was ultimately dismissed, Tarantino hosted a special one-night-only stage reading of The Hateful Eight in Los Angeles. At the time, it seemed like it would possibly be the only time a Quentin Tarantino-directed performance would be held, but that changed after the reading when it was reported that the writer/director was still working on the script.
In the summer of 2014, it was revealed that the production was back on, and that Quentin Tarantino was starting to put pieces of his cast together. Filming began back in January, and The Hateful Eight is now in post-production. Sadly, The Weinstein Company, which is handling distribution on the project, has not yet announced a release date for the film.
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H8ful story |
Based on an original screenplay by Quentin Tarantino – just like all of the director’s other films – this new project is set in the years just after the Civil War, and begins with a bounty hunter (Kurt Russell) and his bounty (Jennifer Jason Leigh) making their way through Wyoming during winter on their way to a town called Red Rock. Along the road, they wind up meeting two strangers, but this is only the beginning of the story. Eventually, a blizzard forces the group off the road entirely and into an establishment called Minnie’s Haberdashery. This location is actually already filled with four other individuals taking shelter from the storm – some with darker tales than others. As the night goes on, tensions flare, and in true Tarantino fashion, blood will be spilt.
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John Ruth: "The Hangman" |
As noted during the plot synopsis, Kurt Russell character is one of the first we meet in the narrative, and his name is John Ruth. As you probably could have guessed, he earns the nickname "The Hangman" because he’s a bounty hunter who’s pretty damn good at bringing people to justice. The Hateful Eight will actually be the second time that Russell has had the opportunity to work with Quentin Tarantino, as they previously collaborated on the Death Proof half of the double-feature Grindhouse. Russell was originally going to have a role in the writer/director’s Django Unchained, but wound up leaving the production. His part wound up being absorbed by Walton Goggins. Russell is a missed presence in any movie he’s not in, so it’s great to see him working with Tarantino once again.
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Daisy Domergue: "The Prisoner" |
Throughout his career, Quentin Tarantino has made a habit of making surprising casting choices and getting them to pay off in major ways. When it comes to The Hateful Eight, one can pinpoint Jennifer Jason Leigh as the production’s most interesting castmember. There was a time when a rumor was swirling around that the part of Daisy Domergue was going to go to Jennifer Lawrence, but that was debunked when Leigh got the part in October of last year. She begins the film as John Ruth’s captured prisoner, heading to Red Rock to face punishment for the crime of murder. Whether or not she will actually get there is a very reasonable question.
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Major Marquis Warren: "The Bounty Hunter" |
Major Marquis Warren is one of the two characters who John Ruth and Daisy Domergue wind up encountering on their little misadventure, and he will be played by the one and only Samuel L. Jackson. The character has been described as being an infamous bounty hunter himself, though he also made a name for himself as a soldier fighting for the union. The Hateful Eight will be the fifth time that Jackson has had the opportunity to work with Quentin Tarantino as a director – and the truth is that they make magic every time out. From his Oscar nominated turn as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction to the detestable Stephen in Django Unchained, it’s been proven time and time again that the two men work incredibly well together
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| Chris Mannix: "The Sheriff" |
While it’s not entirely clear if John Ruth and Daisy Domergue wind up encountering the aforementioned roadside strangers together or apart, but in addition to Major Marquis Warren, the duo will also be running into Chris Mannix – played by Walton Goggins. He’s a Southerner who has moved out to the west and claims to be the new sheriff in town… though whether or not he can be trusted is evidently debatable. As mentioned earlier in this guide, The Hateful Eight will be a reunion between Quentin Tarantino and Walton Goggins, as they previously had the chance to work together making Django Unchained. That, however, was a very small role, and hopefully this one will be a bit more significant.
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