In November 2013, writer-director
Quentin Tarantino said he was working on another
Western. He initially attempted the story as a novel, a sequel to his film
Django Unchained (2012), titled
Django in White Hell but realized that the Django character did not fit the story. On January 11, 2014, the title was announced as
The Hateful Eight. The film was inspired by the 1960s
Western TV series
Bonanza,
The Virginian, and
The High Chaparral. Tarantino said: , as part of
LACMA's
Live Read series, on April 19, 2014 Production was planned for late 2014 in the winter, but after the script leaked online in January 2014, Tarantino considered publishing it as a novel instead. He said he had given the script to a few trusted colleagues, including
Reginald Hudlin,
Michael Madsen,
Bruce Dern, and
Tim Roth. This version of the script featured a different ending in which Warren and Mannix attempt to kill Gage in revenge by forcing him to drink the poisoned coffee, sparking a firefight in which every character is killed. Tarantino described his vision for the character of Daisy Domergue as a "
Susan Atkins of the Wild West". Madsen based Joe Gage on
Peter Breck's performance in
The Big Valley. On April 19, 2014, Tarantino directed a
staged reading of the leaked script at the
United Artists Theater in the
Ace Hotel Los Angeles. The event was organized by the Film Independent at
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as part of the
Live Read series and was introduced by
Elvis Mitchell. Tarantino explained that they would read the first draft of the script, and he added that he was writing two new drafts with a different ending. The actors who joined Tarantino included
Samuel L. Jackson,
Kurt Russell, Dern, Roth, Madsen,
Walton Goggins,
Zoë Bell,
Amber Tamblyn,
James Parks,
James Remar, and
Dana Gourrier.
Casting On September 23, 2014, it was revealed that
Viggo Mortensen was in discussion with Tarantino for a role in the film. Mortensen had passed on the film due to scheduling conflicts. Tarantino met with
Jennifer Lawrence about portraying Daisy Domergue, but she declined due to her commitments with
Joy and
The Hunger Games films. She later stated that she regretted turning it down. On October 9, 2014,
Jennifer Jason Leigh was added to the cast to play Daisy Domergue. On November 5, 2014, it was announced that
Channing Tatum was eyeing a major role in the film. Later the same day,
the Weinstein Company confirmed the cast in a press release, which would include Jackson,
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Russell, Roth,
Demián Bichir, Goggins, Madsen, and Dern. Tatum's casting was also confirmed. Later on January 23, 2015, TWC announced an ensemble cast of supporting members, including
James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoë Bell,
Gene Jones, Keith Jefferson,
Lee Horsley, Craig Stark, and Belinda Owino. In the earlier public reading of the first script, the role of Daisy Domergue had been read by Amber Tamblyn, and the role of Bob, a Frenchman rather than a Mexican, was read by
Denis Ménochet;
Filming On September 26, 2014, the state of
Colorado had signed to fund the film's production with $5 million, and the complete film would be shot in
Southwest Colorado. A 900-acre ranch was leased to the production for the filming. There was a meeting on October 16, and the county's planning commission issued a permit for the construction of a temporary set. The budget was reported to be $44–62 million.
Antique guitar incident The guitar destroyed by Russell's character was not a prop but an antique 1870s
Martin guitar lent by the Martin Guitar Museum. According to sound mixer
Mark Ulano, the guitar was supposed to have been switched with a copy to be destroyed, but this was not communicated to Russell; everyone on the set was "pretty freaked out" at the guitar's destruction, and Leigh's reaction was genuine, though "Tarantino was in a corner of the room with a funny curl on his lips, because he got something out of it with the performance." Museum director Dick Boak said that the museum was not told that the script included a scene that called for a guitar being smashed, and determined that it was irreparable. The insurance remunerated the purchase value of the guitar. As a result of the incident, the museum no longer lends props to film productions. The film was transferred to 70 mm film for projection using
Ultra Panavision 70 and
Kodak Vision 3 film stocks: 5219, 5207, 5213 and 5203. Until the release of
Dunkirk two years later, it was the widest release in 70 mm film since
Far and Away in 1992. The film uses
Panavision anamorphic lenses with an
aspect ratio of 2.76:1, a very widescreen image that was used on some films in the 1950s and 1960s. The production team also avoided any use of a
digital intermediate in the 70 mm roadshow release, as this would have reduced the high native resolution of the format. It was
color-timed photochemically by
FotoKem, and the
dailies were screened in 70 mm. The wide digital release and a handful of 35 mm prints were struck from a digital intermediate, done by Yvan Lucas at Shed/Santa Monica.
Post-production Tarantino edited two versions of the film, one for the roadshow version and the other for general release. The roadshow version runs for two hours and fifty-two minutes, including a three-minute overture, a twelve-minute intermission, a few minutes' worth of additional dialogue and activity and a few alternate takes. Tarantino created two versions as he felt some of the footage he shot for 70 mm would not play well on smaller screens. The
British Board of Film Classification records show the runtime difference between the Roadshow (187 minutes) and the DCP (168 minutes) releases was 19 minutes.
Music Tarantino announced at the 2015
San Diego Comic-Con that
Ennio Morricone would compose the score for
The Hateful Eight; it is the first Western scored by Morricone in 34 years, since
Buddy Goes West, and Tarantino's first film to use an original score. Tarantino had previously used Morricone's music in
Kill Bill,
Death Proof (2007; a part of the double-feature
Grindhouse),
Inglourious Basterds, and
Django Unchained, and Morricone also wrote an original song, "Ancora Qui", for the last. Morricone had previously made statements that he would "never work" with Tarantino after
Django Unchained, but ultimately changed his mind and agreed to score
The Hateful Eight. According to
Variety, Morricone composed the score without even seeing the film. The soundtrack was announced on November 19, 2015, for a December 18 release from
Decca Records. Morricone composed 50 minutes of original music for
The Hateful Eight. In addition to Morricone's original score, the soundtrack includes dialogue excerpts from the film, "Apple Blossom" by
The White Stripes from their
De Stijl album, "Now You're All Alone" by
David Hess from
The Last House on the Left (1972) and "There Won't Be Many Coming Home" by
Roy Orbison from
The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967). Tarantino confirmed that the film would use three unused tracks from Morricone's
original soundtrack for
The Thing (1982)—"Eternity", "Bestiality", and "Despair"—as Morricone was pressed for time while creating the score. The final film also uses Morricone's "Regan's Theme" from
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). Morricone's score won several awards, including a special award from
New York Film Critics Circle. The score won a
Golden Globe for Best Original Score. It also took the 2016 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture Score, Morricone's first after several career nominations. The
acoustic song played by Leigh's character Domergue on a Martin guitar is the traditional
Australian folk ballad "
Jim Jones at Botany Bay", which dates from the early 19th century and was first published by Charles McAlister in 1907. The rendition in the film includes lines which were not in MacAlister's version. The film's trailer used
Welshly Arms' cover of "
Hold On, I'm Coming", although this is not used in the film itself. ==Release==