Is Tarantino completing his blockbuster trilogy, or going back to his roots? Or both?!
You’re watching Beyond The Trailer’s review of The Hateful Eight...
As Quentin Tarantino has admitted, Grindhouse was his “Come to Jesus” moment, when he
realized his relationship with his fans was a two way street and they would NOT blindly
go and see whatever movie he decided to make. Tarantino also admitted that while movie studios
had gotten the message he only wanted to direct his own scripts, after Grindhouse offers to
direct other scripts starting coming in - meaning that Hollywood knew he was in dire need of
a comeback. And sure, Tarantino could’ve directed someone else’s script, joined a
franchise. But instead, he not only wrote his way back into the hearts of his fans,
but reached new heights by reaching new fans. They say “go big or go home”, and faced
with the very real possibility of going home Tarantino went big. Inglorious Basterds, Django
Unchained - Tarantino more than doubled his standard budget, and saw tremendous returns.
Both flicks dominated at the box office, made hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide,
and were also not only award contenders but award winners. And while The Hateful Eight
is a smaller picture - a forty million dollar budget and only one real location - it’s
still grand in that it’s almost three hours long and features an overture and an intermission.
Yeah, that’s kind of cool. But there’s a lot of UN-cool things about The Hateful
Eight as well. First off, it’s very low on star power. Sure Tarantino made a big deal
about casting Bruce Dern hot off of Nebraska, and still cast him after accusing Dern’s
agents of leaking his script. And Jennifer Jason Lee does have awards buzz, while obviously
everyone enjoys Samuel L Jackson in a Tarantino movie. But Kurt Russell? Walton Goggins? Demian
Bichir? Sure there’s a rumored Channing Tatum cameo, but this year’s holiday movie
season is COMPETITIVE! And Tarantino is without his lucky charm, Christoph Waltz... Then,
well, like many Hollywood stars, Tarantino’s personal politics seem to be in danger of
derailing his career - or at least causing him to hit a serious speed bump. After he
spoke out at a rally against police brutality, where his comments were interpreted as calling
all police officers murderers. But while Tarantino has tried to clarify his comments, police
unions have still insisted they were inflammatory and several police unions nationwide plan
to boycott The Hateful Eight. Plus news reports have come out that Tarantino’s long-time
claims that he served several days in jail in Los Angeles before he became famous - are false.
So ironically for a guy who loves to talk
and writes great dialogue
is all this chatter going to take down Tarantino's return
to his more artistic, niche side?