Assembling a star-studded cast to play a mis-matched group of bounty hunters caught up in a seemingly relentless blizzard with only each other for company, Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight had our curiosity on premise alone, but after today’s reveal of the first trailer, the autuer’s latest irrefutably has our attention.
Showcasing the wintry hills of Wyoming, that all-star cast and dialogue that is decidedly Tarantino – “move a little strange, you’re gonna’ get a bullet” – the sizzle reel is jam-packed with exciting shots. Taking place in the fallout of the civil war, The Hateful Eight reads like a melange of Reservoir Dogs and Django Unchained in that the director’s latest will see a group of associates struggling to trust one another, only this time swapping out the likes of Mr. Orange and Mr. Black for The Hangman and The Prisoner.
The Hateful Eight will be comprised of Quentin Tarantino regulars and newcomers alike, including Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Bruce Dern. The anticipated western will open in select 70mm theaters on Christmas Day, before making the jump to standard widescreen cinemas on January 8.
In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…