It has been heavily rumored that Quentin Tarantino is in final negotiations with Viggo Mortensen to take on a part of his upcoming neo-spaghetti-western genre movie "The Hateful Eight."
"Viggo Mortensen at the Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca," NY Daily News previously said in a report. "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."
While everyone is expecting the "Lord of the Rings" star in the casting lineup, many were surprised when they did not see Mortensen included in the cast when it was officially released.
The "Lord of the Rings" star finally talked about his supposed involvement in Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" in an interview with Grantand.
"[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."
Adding that Quentin Tarantino had offered him "a ruthless gang leader."
And in other "The Hateful Eight" news, QT has reportedly held off from some of the distributors who wanted to get involved with his movie.
Apparently, he wanted to personally assess any distributor that is interested in screening "The Hateful Eight."
The neo-spaghetti-western themed movie is going to be shot entirely on film and Quentin Tarantino wanted it 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 has reportedly been added to the lineup, Collider reported.
"The Hateful Eight" release date has yet to be revealed.
