Quentin Tarantino's new western is called THE HATEFUL EIGHT; Wants Christoph Waltz and Bruce Dern

After the blood soaked brilliance that was Django Unchained, any time the words “Quentin Tarantino” and “western” are mentioned in the same sentence together, I start to do my happy dance. I then get always asked by people if I’m having an epileptic seizure for some reason, but I digress. The point is, Tarantino gave us a truly superb take on the classic “Spaghetti Western” and has said that he wants to return to the genre again. And now we have our first clues on what that return will look like.

According to a report from Deadline, the Oscar winning writer/director has actually already completed penning the first draft script for his next western, which at this time is being titled The Hateful Eight, which could be a clever Tarantino-esque homage to director John Sturges’ 1960 classic The Magnificent Seven. There’s absolutely no details known about the script at this moment, so it’s uncertain if The Magnificent Seven will somehow serve as inspiration for this new film though. Knowing Tarantino though, he’ll probably head off in his own direction narrative-wise.

If Tarantino follows his usual modus operandi, he will now start meeting with actors, and depending on who he lands, will go back and tweak the script to work to their strengths. And he apparently already has two names in mind: Christoph Waltz and Bruce Dern. The first name, Waltz, should come as no surprise, as it was Tarantino who turned the Austrian into a household name and two-time Oscar winner (for Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained) and the pair really do seem to bring out the best in each other.

The other name is a bit of a surprise… well, maybe not to people who have keeping abreast of all the strong buzz that has surrounded this actor’s latest on-screen effort. Apparently Tarantino is eyeing veteran actor Bruce Dern, who for decades has been known for strong supporting roles in various feature films and TV series, scoring a pair of Golden Globe and one Oscar nomination in the late 1970’s (for Coming Home and The Great Gatsby), but never really attaining household name status. That’s all starting to change thanks to a critical darling performance in The Descendants director Alexander Payne’s latest, Nebraska, which is sparking a massive career surge for Dern at the ripe age of 77.

A pairing of Dern and the 57 year old Waltz – perhaps as older gunslingers – could certainly make for a damn interesting dynamic, especially after how Tarantino described that he would tackle this new western.

“…the thing is I had so much fun doing ‘Django’ and I love Westerns so much, that after I taught myself how to make one, it’s like ‘well okay, now let me make another one now I know what I’m doing.”

With all due respect Mr Tarantino, I think you already knew what you were doing with Django and I cannot wait to see you do it again.

Last Updated: January 13, 2014