The Hateful Eight

I can’t blame anyone who’s got Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the top of their list of most anticipated movies of the fall and winter. But for me, it’s all about The Hateful Eight.

Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight has already revealed a series of elegant and gorgeous posters. Now, in what appears to be the first in a series, it’s unveiled this one-sheet to introduce two of the characters in the upcoming Western, namely Kurt Russell’s John Ruth and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Daisy Domergue.

Hall H tends to be the domain of super-heroes, zombies, Jedis, and their ilk. Super-powered, supernatural types. There’s not a lot time devoted to Westerns or cowboys (except when the cowboys meet super-powered, supernatural types in something like Cowboys & Aliens). Today’s panel for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight was a rare exception, with the modern master of genre mashups returning to Comic-Con to present his upcoming opus about a wagon full of bounty hunters trying to find shelter during a blizzard.

Quentin Tarantino and the cast of The Hateful Eight will be appearing at Comic-Con next week (I know, it’s so soon) to unveil new footage from the director’s upcoming western — hopefully the Weinstein Co. will find it in their hearts to release that footage online for those of us not attending, but until then, you are free to enjoy a new image from the film.

We knew that director Quentin Tarantino was filming The Hateful Eight on 65mm film cameras with every intention of creating 70mm film prints for select theaters. Then we learned that he was spearheading a campaign to retrofit 50 theaters across the nation with 70mm projectors so more audiences could see the movie in its intended format. Now the final piece of the puzzle has fallen into place. The Hateful Eight will open on Christmas Day, but only in theaters capable of projecting 70mm. Everyone else will have to wait an extra two weeks.

Quentin Tarantino is one of the biggest voices in preserving film — his New Beverly theater in Los Angeles doesn’t allow digital projection, proving how committed the director is to protecting and promoting film. In keeping with that spirit, Tarantino shoots all of his movies on film, including his upcoming western The Hateful Eight. And to help ensure audiences can see his new film properly, he’s reportedly retrofitting 50 theaters worldwide with 70mm projectors.

Just yesterday we got our first official look at Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight via a mustache-heavy Entertainment Weekly cover, implying that Kurt Russell probably doesn’t even have to act in this movie because his mustache will do all the work for him. As it should. Today brings eight new images from the highly-anticipated upcoming film, introducing all eight of those hateful characters.

Nothing will turn the head of a film fan faster than news about a new Quentin Tarantino movie, so brace yourself for a little whiplash: our first look at The Hateful Eight has arrived and it showcases Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Jason Leigh in all of their weathered, western glory. It also showcases Russell and Jackson’s spectacular facial hair, both of which seem to be battling for dominance (Russell has the edge if you ask us).

Viggo Mortensen and Quentino Tarantino are but two lonely ships passing in the night, like two souls who must love each other from afar because they’re always committed to someone or something else. Mortensen has revealed that not only did he turn down the chance to appear in The Hateful Eight, but he also once auditioned for Reservoir Dogs. Will these two crazy kids ever work it out?

After stops and starts and leaks and reversals, Quentin Tarantino’s 70mm Western ‘The Hateful Eight’ is now, finally, officially, definitively, happening. The Weinstein Company announced today that production has begun in Telluride, Colorado.