The other day we got the news that Quentin Tarantino would no longer be making a big screen version of THE HATEFUL EIGHT due to a script leak. The director suspected CAA who rep actor Bruce Dern but the agency denied these allegations. I knew the script would wind up online fairly quick, and TheWrap has already obtained a copy.
I feel sort of odd taking a peek at what the director had planned though at the same time I am insanely curious as well. There’s no telling when Tarantino will get around to making this, if that day ever even comes. Though he said the project was his “baby”, the director also stated that it would not be the next film that he made. But for those who want to take a look at Tarantino’s vision, I invite you to skip past this picture and dive into the details with me.
The Wrap first teases the opening of the film with a photo of the actual script. Why they thought it was clever to paste Tarantino's angry face on there, I have no idea:
The site then gets into the story and characters:
The script is an ensemble Western with obvious parts for Madsen and Dern, as well as Tarantino stalwarts like Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz. Jackson and Madsen would likely both play bounty hunters returning human plunder to a town called Red Rock in exchange for hefty rewards. Their characters, a former major in the Union army and a man named John Ruth, dominate the first two of the script’s five chapters.
They run into a Southerner named Chris Mannix on the road, and three of them, along with their driver — a living prisoner and three dead bounties strapped to the roof — arrive at a haberdashery to take shelter from an oncoming blizzard. Yet the proprietors, Minnie, Sweet Dave and her other colleagues, are nowhere to be found. In their place are four men, a Southern general (likely Dern), an alleged hangman, a Frenchman named Bob and a cowboy named Joe Gage.
Mistrust, coffee and violence ensue.
This one is set almost entirely in two settings – a stagecoach and the haberdashery. That is a much smaller canvas than Taratino usually works on, but the bloody, sharply written, typo-filled script is vintage Quentin. There’s a little Russian roulette, some vomit and frequent duplicity.
The five chapters are “Last Stage to Red Rock,” “Son of A Gun,” “Minnie’s,” ‘The Four Pasggengers” and “Black night, White Hell.” Here’s an image of the one section Tarantino crossed out, so as not to ruin anything. Oswaldo is the hangman and Domergue a prisoner.
Thankfully they didn't spoil it all, otherwise I'd have serious issues sharing this. Have I left you wanting more?
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