Trailer Trashin’: Breaking Down the Teaser for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight
We’re more than halfway through August, dear readers, and the summer movie season is almost over. But there are always new trailers for me to watch and analyze. This week’s installment of Trailer Trashin’ takes a look at the teaser for Quentin Tarantino’s next film The Hateful Eight.
Premise: In post-Civil War Wyoming, eight strangers seek shelter in a haberdashery during a blizzard. But they soon get involved in a plot of betrayal and deception. Will they survive, and are they really who they say they are?
My take: Back in November 2013, Quentin Tarantino announced that his next film would be The Hateful Eight, his second Western after Django Unchained (2012). But in January 2014, after Tarantino had given copies of his first draft screenplay of the film to a few trusted colleagues, a copy of the script was leaked online. Tarantino was furious, filed a lawsuit against the gossip blog Gawker, and said he’d decided to cancel the movie and turn his script into a novel instead. But after directing a live reading of the leaked script at the United Artists Theater in Los Angeles, Tarantino said he’d changed his mind and was going to make the movie after all. Now the first teaser trailer for The Hateful Eight has arrived, and it looks like it could be another winner for Tarantino.
0:13-0:23: Our introduction to the first of the titular eight: Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren, “The Bounty Hunter.” When we first see Warren, he’s sitting on three dead bodies, one of which is wearing only a set of red long johns.
0:24-0:26: Two more of the eight. Kurt Russel as John Ruth, “The Hangman,” and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue, “The Prisoner.” It’s fun to see Russell in another Western, and his mustache here is ever crazier than the one he had in Tombstone (1993). Leigh is always an interesting actress to watch, and the fact that she already has a black eye and dried blood on her face here seems to show that her character’s going to be put through the ringer.
0:54-0:56: As John and Daisy enter the haberdashery, we meet two more of the eight. On the left is Bruce Dern as General Sanford Smithers, “The Confederate.” On the right is Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray, “The Little Man.”
1:00-1:01: Another member of the eight is already here. Michael Madsen as Joe Gage, “The Cow Puncher.” No idea what a cow puncher actually is, but it sounds pretty badass.
1:03-1:04: Yet another of the eight. Walton Goggins as Chris Mannix, “The Sheriff.”
1:05: The last of the eight. Demián Bichir as Bob, “The Mexican.”
1:06-1:09: John explains his situation to the others, ending with “When that sun comes out, I’m taking this woman to hang!” Daisy is standing behind him, and as he finishes his spiel, she mimes herself being hanged. Tarantino’s usual dark humor is very much in play.
1:29-1:34: If you’re a fan of Kurt Russell, this moment is pretty amusing on a Meta level. He’s one of a small group of people trapped in an isolated location by a blizzard, and he’s saying that one of them isn’t who they say they are. In other words, it’s very much like what happened to him in The Thing (1982). Knowing how much of a movie geek Tarantino is, I’m sure this was at least somewhat intentional on his part.
1:38-1:46: Marquis lays down the law, making it clear that anyone who does anything he finds suspicious is going to get a bullet. This looks like it’s going to be another fun role for Samuel L. Jackson.
1:48: Close-up shot of Daisy inside the stagecoach, letting us really see her injuries. But you can tell that this shot has been flipped, because her black eye is on the other side.
1:54: This shot goes by really fast, but it looks like Daisy falls out the window of the stagecoach, and since she’s shackled to John, he falls out with her. This might be how she gets the injury that leaves all the blood on her face, but we’ll have to wait and see.
1:55: Another quick shot, but Marquis is holding a knife to Joe’s neck. Clearly, the tension among the group has escalated.
2:01: John hefts a shotgun or rifle, and we get to see the full glory of Kurt Russell’s giant mustache.
All in all, this is a good teaser that does a fine job of making me want to see the movie. At first, I was a little bummed that Tarantino was going to make another Western right after Django Unchained, but I’m totally on board now. When the end of the year rolls around, I’ll definitely be checking out The Hateful Eight myself, hopefully in, as the end of this teaser puts it, “Glorious 70mm.”
ANTICIPATION: Saddle up, people! This looks like it’s gonna be good.
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks, and Zoë Bell
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Timothy Monforton
