If you didn't read our coverage of the special live read event for Quentin Tarantino's “The Hateful Eight” screenplay, check it out.
It was fairly clear during that event that Tarantino still has every intention of making the movie, and that the reading was a way of him not only testing some of the biggest moments in front of a crowd but also a way of taking control of the conversation about the script. After all, the first time most people heard of it was when the script got leaked and there was a rush from various sites to summarize it and offer up plot details.
During the reading, Tarantino made it clear that he's going to continue to hone the ending of the script, which is good. As it stands now, it's a script that spends most of its running time expertly getting all of the various threads going, and it feels like this great fun jugging act with a whole bunch of characters who all have their own agendas, and when it finally comes together, it doesn't seem like it pays off all of the potential.
He'll get there, though. I have no doubt about it. If what they performed for us that night in April was a first draft, then his first drafts are upsettingly great. Endings are hard. They may be the hardest thing, especially if you do your job right and set things up with great characters and a great situation.
Roger Friedman is reporting today that “The Hateful Eight” is going to start shooting in November. If he's correct and the cast of the film is going to be fairly identical to the cast of the live read, then it's going to be a blast. I loved Kurt Russell, once again serving as a vessel for the spirit of John Wayne, and there's a scene between Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Dern that, even in that venue, was obviously an all-timer.
Obviously, this is not an official start date yet, but it certainly fits into the timetable that Tarantino was mentioning around the time of the live read.
Here's hoping we see “The Hateful Eight” sometime in 2015.