In a perfect example of why you shouldn't piss off Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight, his recently announced follow up to Django Unchained, has been put on indefinite hold after the script, which was on its first draft, was leaked. The leak has understandably upset the director, who had pencilled shooting to begin in the winter, and he seems to be done with project for now, planning to publish the script and make it available in bookstores, and maybe revisit it in the next five years. He discovered the leak after his longtime agent Mike Simpson began getting calls from other agents pitching their clients for a role in the movie, even though he only gave the script to six people. The canceling of the project will no doubt be a bummer to fans (myself included) of the director who were looking forward to him tackling a Western again, especially when Christoph Waltz, Bruce Dern, and, as revealed by this leak, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen, were all said to be on the casting radar.
So who could be behind the leak? Speaking to Deadline, Tarantino has a few ideas, saying, "I gave it to one of the producers on Django Unchained, Reggie Hudlin, and he let an agent come to his house and read it. That's a betrayal, but not crippling because the agent didn't end up with the script. There is an ugly maliciousness to the rest of it. I gave it to three actors: Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Tim Roth. The one I know didn't do this is Tim Roth. One of the others let their agent read it, and that agent has now passed it on to everyone in Hollywood." It's hard to know exactly who is to blame, as agencies are vast enterprises where the assistants have assistants, anyone could have passed the script on to another agency or blogger, and it is possible Tarantino gave out the script himself without a watermark that usually prevents it from being copied.
Some people might say Tarantino is overreacting, but I for one can't blame him. The Hateful Eight was a project he was obviously proud of, and it being the first draft, it wasn't finished and to the standard he wanted. It was in the early stages, and having agencies bombard his office trying to force their clients on him was no doubt a shock to the system. So The Hateful Eight is a no go for him at this point in time, the director is moving onto another project, which apparently has a big role written for Bruce Dern, but he wont divulge any details at this time.
