Just last week, Harvey Weinstein complained about how crowded this time of year is when it comes to would-be awards contenders, and indeed the list of must-see movies is only growing. On Christmas Day alone, there are four movies opening that are each competing for Oscar attention, one of which is Weinstein’s own “The Hateful Eight,” and the marketing blitz is in full effect.
In an interview with The Telegraph, legendary composer Ennio Morricone revealed some details on the score he has composed for the snowy western, adding that Quentin Tarantino’s film “is not like any western you have ever seen before. And so I used a very different kind of theme. For instance, I used two bassoons playing together, and they produce a very heavy, severe kind of sound. It is totally different from the atmosphere of a [Sergio] Leone film. What you will hear is Tarantino music.” For those of you not fortunate enough to live near a theater with 70mm projection capabilities, you’ll still be able to hear Morricone’s score when it hits CD, vinyl, and digital next Friday.
READ MORE: Ranked: Quentin Tarantino’s 50 Best Characters
As one can infer from the title, Tarantino’s film is very much an ensemble piece. You can either check out a featurette, in which Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, and Walter Goggins talking about how much they love working with each other, or you can check out a lively new edition of “Academy Conversations” that includes Tarantino, Jackson, Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Watch them both below.
And finally, you may remember that Tarantino got into a little trouble with the Fraternal Order of Police over his remarks about police brutality at a protest in New York City. At the time, the filmmaker released a statement saying that he was “not being intimidated” for speaking the truth, and at a recent press conference for “The Hateful Eight” (via EW), Tarantino doubled down when asked whether he was worried about the “surprise” the union was threatening. “People ask me, ‘Are you worried?’ And the answer’s no, I’m not worried, because I do not feel like the police force is this sinister black hand organization that goes out and fucks up individual citizens in a conspiracy sort of way. Having said that, a civil servant shouldn’t be issuing threats, even rhetorically, to private citizens. The only thing I can imagine is that they might be planning to picket one of the screenings or maybe picket the premiere, or one of the 70mm screenings.”
“The Hateful Eight” opens on Christmas Day for limited 70mm-only engagement before going wide on January 8th.