Writer/director Quentin Tarantino stirred up quite a bit of drama earlier this year when he announced that his planned next film, the western The Hateful Eight, was being shelved due a script leak to what he referred to as a "personal betrayal." There were lawsuits, discussions of publishing the screenplay as a book, and the filmmaker even held an exclusive live-reading with an all-star cast. For a long time it looked like The Hateful Eight was going to end up being one of those classic Hollywood stories - the "lost project" that a genius director never put on celluloid - but apparently that will no longer be the project's legacy. Instead, Quentin Tarantino has had what you might call a change of heart.
Citing comments recently made by the Pulp Fiction director at the Cannes Film Festival - where he told reporters that he had "calmed down" after the unauthorized release of The Hateful Eight script - Showbiz 411 is now reporting word from insider sources that Tarantino is planning to start shooting the western later this year. Tarantino has previously said that he is still working the project through drafts and the new report says that he is planning to do a third rewrite of the screenplay before making sure everything is ready to go.
Said to be a much smaller-scaled project than Tarantino's most recent films, The Hateful Eight begins following a bounty hunter who is making his way to a small desert town on horseback along with a female prisoner. After meeting a few more travelers on the road, a dangerous blizzard sweeps up and causes the group to take shelter in in a haberdashery. In the building they find they're not alone as they meet a general, an alleged hangman, a Frenchman and a cowboy. Most of the plot unfolds in that one location, with plenty of drama stirring up between the various individuals. Think Reservoir Dogs back in the Old West.
So who will be playing this crazy cast of characters? Showbiz 411 says that it will be many of the same performers who took part in the aforementioned live-read, including Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, Kurt Russell, James Remar, Amber Tamblyn, Walt Goggins, and Zoe Bell. As the site points out, it would appear that The Hateful Eight will be the Oscar-winning director's first movie without Christoph Waltz since 2009's Inglorious Basterds.
Are you excited that Quentin Tarantino is moving forward with The Hateful Eight, or would you have rather seen him move on to a completely different project? Tell us what you're thinking in the comments section below and stay tuned for more updates about the film in the coming months.
