Waiting for the next movie from Quentin Tarantino? Well, it looks like you’re going to have to keep waiting.
The acclaimed writer and director of Django Unchained, Inglorious Basterds, Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction announced Tuesday that he is shelving The Hateful Eight, his would-be latest project, after someone apparently leaked it to the public.
Speaking with Deadline yesterday, Tarantino explained, “I’m very, very depressed. I finished a script, a first draft, and I didn’t mean to shoot it until next winter, a year from now. I gave it to six people, and apparently it’s gotten out today.”
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Word spread in the last few weeks about the film, which is another Western. Tarantino revealed that he gave it to three actors – Michael Madsen (Kill Bill Vol. 2), Bruce Dern (Nebraska) and Tim Roth (The Incredible Hulk) – as well as Django Unchained producer Reggie Hudlin. The filmmaker insisted he knew it wasn’t Roth who leaked the script, but because he evidently sent out a version that wasn’t watermarked, it may be impossible to determine the source of the leak.
Ironically, Tarantino’s scripts have a history of being leaked – which typically he doesn’t mind. “I am not talking out of both sides of my mouth,” Tarantino said. “Because I do like the fact that everyone eventually posts it, gets it and reviews it. Frankly I wouldn’t want it any other way. I like the fact that people like my sh*t, and that they go out of their way to find it and read it.”
“But I gave it to six motherf*cking people!” he exclaimed. “Starting this week, I’ll be setting meetings with publishers.”
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According to Deadline’s Mike Fleming, he attempted to convince Tarantino to pursue the project anyway, and Tarantino admitted he may yet change his mind about not making it. “I own the f*cking thing,” he said. “But I can tell you, it’s not going to be the next thing I do… I was thinking about the idea of maybe publishing it before I made it, but now that deal happens for sure, and I’m not doing it next.”
Meanwhile, in a display of deliberate indifference to Tarantino’s outrage over his script being leaked, Hollywood Elsewhere blogger Jeffrey Wells offered to send readers a copy of the version he received (the post has since been removed). The only catch is that Wells didn’t actually have Tarantino’s script; Twitter user Nick Robinson discovered early Wednesday morning that he’d actually been duped with a copy of Seth Macfarlane’s script for his upcoming western falsely-watermarked with Roth’s name.
Jeff Wells’ version of THE HATEFUL EIGHT is an obvious hoax that it’s surprising it fooled him for a second… pic.twitter.com/b041GmQ8l3
— Krokodil Dundee (@Nickrob) January 22, 2014
(In other words, if you get your hands on a script claiming to be Tarantino’s that’s watermarked with Tim Roth’s name, you probably didn’t get the right one.)
Meanwhile, Tarantino says he will now direct the other project he was working on concurrently with The Hateful Eight. “Ihave been full of piss and vinegar about the other one,” he said. “So now I’ll do that one.” He offered no word on whether he’d start shooting next winter as he planned to do with his western.
As for the identity of the person who leaked his script, Tarantino said he’s confident that despite Hudlin inviting his agent to read it, he didn’t share it. But the filmmaker didn’t hesitate to speculate about who did: “It’s got to be the agents of Dern or Madsen,” he said. “Please name names.”
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Source: Deadline