Quentin Tarantino Almost Axed This $62 Million Movie, But Had A Change of Heart

Summary:

• While The Hateful Eight underperformed at the box office, it remains one of the director's most unique works
• However, at one point the movie was scrapped because the early draft of the script was leaked
• It would have stayed that way, but the success of the live script reading convinced Tarantino to revive the project

Although Quentin Tarantino has managed to remain consistently great with his filmography, some of his projects, such as Kill Bill: Volume 3 and the Vega Brothers movie never saw the light of day for various reasons.

However, occasionally the filmmaker decides to give such projects a second chance, which was the case with his second foray into the Western genre after 2012's Django Unchained.

The Hateful Eight, which featured an all-star cast including but not limited to Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, was released in 2015 to a warm reception from critics and fans.

The Film Remains One Of Tarantino's Most Unique Works

While it underperformed considerably at the box office, grossing $156.5 million worldwide against a budget of $44-62 million, the film still managed to impress fans with its intense, slow-burn story and brilliant acting performances.

Drastically different from the much more action-packed Django Unchained, the 2015 film focused on creating an atmosphere of suspense and uncertainty, keeping viewers glued to their seats as they tried to solve the mystery at the heart of the story.

But at one point, the fate of the film was in jeopardy, as the early draft of the script was leaked online in 2014 after being given to a select number of people, prompting the filmmaker to declare that he would not be moving forward with the film.

In an interview with Deadline, Tarantino revealed that he felt "depressed" and completely devastated by the news, and intended to simply publish the story.

Live Script Reading Success Gave The Movie A Second Chance

To this day, it is unknown who is responsible for this disaster, although the list of suspects is quite limited, as the filmmaker believed that it could have been one of the agents working for Michael Madsen or Bruce Dern.

Fortunately, after a live reading of the script, which proved to be a massive success, the director had a change of heart and decided to finish the movie after all, which led to its release on December 25, 2015.

Much to the shame of fans of the filmmaker's work, this case is an exception to the rule, as the rest of his canceled projects were shelved for entirely different reasons and it is very unlikely that we will ever see them released after so many years.

Source: Deadline