The Hateful Eight or hateful six?

A betrayed Tarantino gives up his film project following the leak of its script, which he shared with only six people.

Oscar-winning film-maker Quentin Tarantino has put his western The Hateful Eight on the back burner following the leak of its script. What was going to be his next directing assignment has now been shelved (pun intended) as the director reveals that he is only “going to publish it [the screenplay], and that’s it for now,” reports The Guardian.

The script of the film, which was going to be his follow-up to Django Unchained, was in its initial stages. “I finished a script, a first draft, and I didn’t mean to shoot it until next winter, a year from now,” Tarantino said.

Speaking to Deadline, he expressed that he was ‘very, very depressed’ due to the leak. The Pulp Fiction director said that he first realised about the leakage when his agent began to receive calls from Hollywood agents eager to pitch their clients for roles in the film. He said that he shared the script with only a small circle of actors. “I gave it to six people and apparently, it’s gotten out today.”

“I gave the script to three actors: Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Tim Roth. The one I know didn’t do this is Tim Roth,” he said. “I gave it to one of the producers on Django Unchained, Reggie Hudlin, and he let an agent come to his house and read it. That’s a betrayal, but not crippling because the agent didn’t end up with the script... It’s got to be either the agents of Dern or Madsen.”

The disillusioned Tarantino shared, “I give it out to six people, and if I can’t trust them to that degree, I have no desire to make it. I’m done [with this project]. I’ll move on to the next thing. I’ve got ten more where that came from.”

The venture was revealed only last week as Tarantino’s next film. It was expected to feature Nebraska’s Bruce Dern, 77, and allegedly Christoph Waltz.

Tarantino admitted that he could change his mind, but hoped that shelving the film would deter future leaks. He will soon be setting meetings with publishers for the script’s publication.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2014.

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