Quentin Tarantino ups security for The Hateful Eight; Tatum eyed for role

This comes as no surprise: after the massive script leak of The Hateful Eight earlier this year, Quentin Tarantino’s new Western, the director initially called off the entire project. But thanks to some serious script revisions, the movie is going ahead – and with the cast largely announced (which includes Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bruce Dern and Tim Roth) and a teaser poster released, it looks like it’ll be ready for its 2015 release. But that hasn’t stopped Tarantino from making sure no more leaks occur; most recently, at the current American Film Market – where filmmakers go to get financial backing for their movies – the director has made sure that sales of The Hateful Eight are separate, and invite-only. Once at the Beverly Hills office of The Weinstein Company, potential investors are given a copy of a screenplay draft to read while, according to The Hollywood Reporter, being ‘supervised by staffers’. The location is also a 20-minute walk from the rest of the Santa Monica event, making sure that if you want to leak the updated version of The Hateful Eight, you’ll have to get recording devices fitted to your eyeballs, and get some good walking boots.

In other The Hateful Eight news, Channing Tatum has been eyed for a potential role in Tarantino’s film. With first rehearsals for the movie starting this week, it makes sense to get the entire cast assembled – but there are no reports on Tatum’s role as of yet. Tarantino hopes to shoot The Hateful Eight entirely on 70mm (the largest 70mm distribution in 20 years, according to the Weinstein Co.), and have the movie ready for next September’s Toronto Film Festival.