Kurt Russell is getting back to his cowboy roots. Throughout his storied career, the veteran actor has often strayed from his iconic turn as Wyatt Earp in Tombstone. But with great mustache comes great responsibility. In addition to his role in the new horror western, Bone Tomahawk, Russell is leading the star-studded cast for Tarantino’s own take on the old west, The Hateful Eight.
Today we got our first glimpse of Tarantino’s rich collection of new faces and longtime collaborators in action, ready to blaze a trail for the celebrated director in his eighth (it’s something of a theme) official feature film. And we have to say, as we’d expect from Mr. Tarantino, it looks like it’s going to be a great ride.
The trailer begins with Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Major Marquis Warren flagging down a stage coach in the midst of a brutal bout of winter weather. “Got room for one more?” Jackson asks, as an injection of groovy music rolls in (it is Tarantino, after all), and we discover that Russell’s character, Jon “The Hangman” Ruth, is a bounty hunter, hauling Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Daisy Domergue in for a hanging.
The weather takes a turn for the worse, however, and Ruth, Domergue, and Major Warren are forced to hole up in a cabin loaded with colorful characters, including a few Tarantino regulars in Tim Roth and Michael Madsen, as well as new faces in Bruce Dern and Walter Goggins.
More players eventually show up to create our full cast of “eight strangers,” and we eventually get a clue from Ruth that “One of them fellas is not what he says he is.”
As the trailer rolls on, chaos, violence, and intrigue ensue, as any Tarantino fan could’ve predicted, and we find out that Ruth’s goal of bringing his charge to justice won’t be as simple as he planned — it rarely is in the cinematic world of the wild west.
Crossing the finish line, there’s a reminder that — for those lucky enough to live near a theater that has the equipment to do so — Tarantino’s newest flick will be shown for a limited time in “glorious 70mm,” something that cinephiles will no doubt be salivating about. It’s rare enough in the age of digital projection to see a movie on real film, let alone Ultra Panavision 70, held by many to this day as the pinnacle of the cinematic experience.
The Hateful Eight will land in those theaters able to roll 70mm on Christmas day, and will open nationwide on January 8.
