Let’s start back at the beginning.
Back in January, Quentin Tarantino finished writing a screenplay for what was to be his next film called The Hateful Eight. Someone then leaked said screenplay causing Tarantino to scrap the project altogether.
In April, he decided to put on a one-night-only special live read of the screenplay for the LACMA Film Club starring his cast of choice. Amongst the group was Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Amber Tamblyn, Bruce Dern, Walton Goggins, James Parks, Michael Madsen, and James Remar.
I had the pleasure of going to this event, and I must say, Tarantino truly loves what he does and it was visible with every single word he read and every stage direction he gave. The actors seemed to have a level of respect for him that was inspiring to see, and they all equally shared a passion for what they were doing up on stage. With little time for the actors to prepare I was really impressed with how well it all came together. The story was great too.
During the live read, it was made known that the screenplay was being reworked and that the ending seen that night would be changed in future revisions. This news gave Tarantino fans a glimmer of hope that the film would eventually be made. In fact, after the live read was so well-received, the film was slated to be back on the road to production. The same cast as the live read was set to star, and they were aiming for a fall shoot.
That was the last news that was heard about The Hateful Eight‘s production until today. While promoting The Battered Bastards of Baseball at Fox 59, Kurt Russell mentioned a little bit on the film’s progress saying:
“I’ve got a Tarantino project called The Hateful Eight that looks like it may go somewhere around the beginning of the year.”
Considering that he plays one of the lead roles, I’d say he’s a pretty solid source on the material. So it sounds like the film will shoot at the beginning of 2015, with a release hopefully sometime later in the year.
