The cat was out of the bag a couple of months ago, but it hadn't quite been validated by the man himself. Now, in response to a question from the audience at Comic-Con, Quentin Tarantino has personally confirmed that his strop is officially over and he's directing his Western **The Hateful Eight **after all. "Yeah... we're going to be doing The Hateful Eight," is the full horse's-mouth quote.
If you're new here, Tarantino announced earlier this year that he was abandoning the film following online leaks of the work-in-progress screenplay. "I gave it to six people," he fumed. "It's a betrayal. There's an ugly maliciousness to it." He said he would consider publishing the screenplay as a book, but insisted that, while he might return to it in the future, it would no longer be his next film. He's changed his mind.
Following a live reading at Los Angeles museum LACMA in April, there were already reports that a re-enthused Tarantino would start shooting The Hateful Eight before the end of the year with the whole cast from the LA event. That means Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren, Kurt Russell as bounty hunter John Ruth, Tim Roth as the English fop Oswaldo Mobray, Amber Tamblyn as Daisy Domergue, Walton Goggins as Chris Mannix, Michael Madsen as John Gage, Bruce Dern as Confederate General Smithers, James Parks as stagecoach driver O.B., Denis Ménochet as Frenchman Bob, Dana Gourrier as Minnie, Zoe Bell as Six Horse Judy and James Remar as Jody.
Those present at the reading confirmed that Tarantino already seemed committed to working on the film again, using the event to take back control and test key moments in front of an audience. Still at an early draft, the director made clear that there was work to be done on the ending of a story that involves the diverse characters above being thrown together to take shelter after a stagecoach is diverted from its route by a blizzard.
Rumours of a November shoot in Wyoming still have the whiff of the unconfirmed about them, but Tarantino has clearly calmed down about the situation. The ball is certainly back in his court, and the signs are promising, so fingers crossed there'll be some further news shortly. We'll continue to keep you posted.