Earlier this year Quentin Tarantino announced he was abandoning his Western **The Hateful Eight, 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." Tarantino 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. Happily, it's looking like he's now changed his mind.
Following last month's live reading at Los Angeles museum LACMA, there are now reports that Tarantino has been re-enthused, and will 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 Menochet 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 an early draft, the director made clear that there was work yet 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.
This sudden news of a November shoot in Wyoming has a whiff of unconfirmed rumour-mongering about it, but Tarantino was quoted over the weekend as saying he's "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 official confirmation shortly. We'll keep you posted.