The Weinstein Company has released a behind-the-scenes featurette for The Hateful Eight, but this being a Quentin Tarantino film and all, this isn’t your standard “glib and flashy” behind-the-scenes video. No, instead this extended featurette sees Tarantino and some of his collaborators (including Samuel L. Jackson) giving a mini film history lesson on 70mm projection and roadshows while also explaining what the format lends to this particular film. This is actually the same featurette that was shown to audiences at Comic-Con this past summer at the start of the Hateful Eight panel, before Tarantino also unveiled an extended sizzle reel for the film that has yet to see the light of day.

But I’m happy this is online. Tarantino is one of the smartest filmmakers working today, and to hear him talk passionately about 70mm projection and its history is an absolute delight. Moreover, it’s fascinating to see cast members like Kurt Russell admit that working with such a wide frame took some getting used to. While it’s disappointing that this is ultimately a limited engagement—The Weinstein Company is pouring serious money into retrofitting theaters, but there’s only so many they can get to—I’m hopeful that The Hateful Eight will become a reparatory regular, so that if you do happen to be near a 70mm-capable theater sometime in the next decade, there’s a chance you could pop in and see The Hateful Eight in its intended format.


Check out the featurette below, via Apple. The exclusive 70mm run begins December 25th with the movie opening in wide release on January 8th. The film also starsJennifer Jason LeighWalton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Demian Bichir, Bruce Dern, and Channing Tatum.

Here's the official synopsis for The Hateful Eight:

In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Demian Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…

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