Quentin Tarantino was in the middle of working on The Hateful Eight script when it leaked, and decided to scrap the project even though he wanted it to be his next film.  Tarantino explained that he was frustrated with the leak to the point where he decided to put The Hateful Eight aside and work on something else.  But it looks like he can't let the project go since this past weekend he hosted a live-reading of the script with Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, Bruce Dern, and more reading the various parts.  At the live-reading, Tarantino told the audience that they would be hearing an in-progress second draft of the script, and he planned to write a third draft.  He also noted that the final chapter—"Black Night, White Hell" would be changed, "So the only time it will be seen is here, tonight," he told the audience according The Playlist.  Kind of makes that $200 ticket well worth the price of admission.

Hit the jump for more.

As for when Tarantino might make the film, this is where the various reports from the event differ.  According to The Film Stage, "cameras (hopefully still of the 70mm variety) will roll next winter", but The Playlist and Hitfix make no mention of this date in their reports.

Regarding the current draft of the 146-page script, The Playlist's review says that the story "explores only two locations, denies a single protagonist in favor of eight unlikeable brutes, and winds a profane, bloody, and darkly humorous plot to an anticlimactic and upsetting finish."  Rather than the many Western relationships of Django Unchained, The Playlist notes that the two closest movies to The Hateful Eight are Rio Bravo and Sergio Corbucci's The Great Silence.  So even thought the title of Tarantino's script is a play on The Magnificent Seven, it appears that the title is the only relation between the two.

If you want to know more about the story and how The Playlist believes the script would translate to film, click hereVariety also provided the live-read cast, and it's important to note that just because this group gathered to read the script, that doesn't mean they would get these roles if Tarantino ever makes the movie:

  • Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren
  • James Parks as the driver O.B.
  • Kurt Russell as bounty hunter John Ruth also known as “The Hangman”
  • Amber Tamblyn as his prisoner Daisy Domergue
  • Walton Goggins as Chris Mannix
  • Denis Menochet as the Frenchman Bob
  • Tim Roth as the Englishman Oswaldo Mobray
  • Michael Madsen as John Gage
  • Bruce Dern as Confederate General Smithers
  • Dana Gourrier as Minnie
  • Zoe Bell as Six Horse Judy
  • James Remar as Jody