SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains some pretty significant spoilers for The Hateful Eight. If you have not yet had the opportunity to see the film yet, we recommend that you click away to another one of our wonderful articles!
Similar to the movies released by Marvel Studios, there is a certain degree of interconnectivity that exists between the films of Quentin Tarantino. Whether it’s Reservoir Dogs’ Vic Vega being the brother of Pulp Fiction’s Vincent Vega; or the ubiquitous presence of Red Apple cigarettes, the writer/director has taken steps throughout his entire career to suggest that many of his movies actually take place within the same universe. It turns out The Hateful Eight is no exception, as there is a special connection that I discovered and confirmed between the new film and Inglorious Basterds. It turns out that Tim Roth’s character is actually an ancestor of Archie Hicox, the film critic-turned-British lieutenant played by Michael Fassbender in the 2009 feature.
In the second half of The Hateful Eight, it’s revealed that Tim Roth’s character isn’t actually named Oswaldo Mobray, but instead ‘English’ Pete Hicox – a murderer and member of the Domingray gang with a $15,000 bounty on his head. After noticing this familiar surname, I had the opportunity to recently sit down with Roth to talk about the film, and he confirmed my suspicion that there is a link between Pete and Archie Hicox. As the actor explained,
He is the great-great-great grandfather. I’m not sure if it’s great or great-great or great-great-great, but it’s always the same with [Quentin Tarantino], which I loved.
So there you have it: there is a familial/blood bond shared between Tim Roth and Michael Fassbender’s respective roles in The Hateful Eight and Inglourious Basterds. Of course, fans will recognize that the two men took very different directions in life. One obviously wound up being susceptible to evil and greed, while the other died fighting for the side of good against fascist oppression. It makes you wonder what the rest of the family tree looks like.
For those uninitiated, there are actually two distinct Tarantino-verses. The first is what could be called the "real" Tarantino-verse, which is made up of movies like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Inglourious Basterds and now The Hateful Eight - all of which are connected through various characters, historical events, and so on. At the same time, though, there is also the "movie" Tarantino-verse – which is basically comprised of interconnected titles that are actually movies that characters watch within the "real" Tarantino-verse. This group of films includes Kill Bill, Grindhouse, and From Dusk Till Dawn. Obviously it’s kind of a complicated approach to cinematic universes, but fans have been having fun with it for decades now.
Did you catch the connection between The Hateful Eight and Inglourious Basterds when you were watching the movie? Did you catch any other special Quentin Tarantino-related Easter eggs (such as the reappearance of Red Apple Cigarettes?) Hit the comments below with your finds!
