While Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" is well on its way its production, Viggo Mortensen who was once linked to the neo-spaghetti-western genre film revealed why he had to pass on the project.
"Viggo Mortensen at the Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca," NY Daily News previously reported. "According to the eagle-eyed hotel guest, the pair had what appeared to be scripts in front of them and seemed to be discussing characters. The 'Reservoir Dogs' filmmaker was overheard enthusing to Mortensen about a 'ruthless gang leader' role."
In an interview with Grantand, "The Lord of The Rings" star confirmed that rumors from last year involving him in the project could have been real if it weren't for scheduling issues.
Mortenses also revealed that Quentin Tarantino had offered him "a ruthless gang leader."
"[Tarantino] wanted to start shooting at the end of the year and do rehearsals before that, and I just couldn't do that schedulewise," the 56-year-old actor explained. "That's the only reason [I passed]. It would have been really, really fun to work with him. I think he's really smart and funny. I'd never sat down and talked to him that much, although I did audition for Reservoir Dogs, which he remembered."
Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino has reportedly held off from some of the distributors who wanted to get involved in "The Hateful Eight."
QT apparently wants to personally and carefully assess each distributor who's interested in screening his film. The award-winning director reportedly has his own terms and conditions that needed to be fulfilled by interested distributor.
Adding that since the film is going to be shot entirely on film, he wanted "The Hateful Eight" to be released in 70mm limited to select theaters with a separate 35mm release to follow.
Here's the film's official synopsis according Collider.
"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 (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (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 (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (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 (Bichir), who's taking care of Minnie's while she's visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all..."
The official cast to Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" includes Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren, Kurt Russell as John "The Hangman" Ruth, Walton Gogging as Chris Mannix, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue, Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray, Michael Madsen as Joe Gage, Bruce Dern as General Sanford and Demian Bichir as Bob.
"Magic Mike" star Channing Tatum is also reportedly going to take part on an unknown role, Collider reported.
A release date has yet to be set though.
