Quentin Tarantino reached deep into his own Rolodex for his buzzy new movie, "The Hateful Eight." The Weinstein Company announced the cast on Thursday, and among the lead stars are several actors who've appeared in Tarantino's previous movies.
Samuel L. Jackson ("Pulp Fiction," "Django Unchained"), Kurt Russell ("Death Proof"), Walton Goggins ("Django Unchained"), Tim Roth ("Reservoir Dogs," "Pulp Fiction"), Michael Madsen ("Reservoir Dogs," "Kill Bill") and Bruce Dern ("Django Unchained") will join Tarantino rookies Jennifer Jason Leigh and Demián Bichir to comprise the film's title evildoers.
The Weinstein Company also confirmed rumors that Channing Tatum will join the cast, but the capacity of the "Magic Mike" star's exact role was not disclosed in the press release.
"The Hateful Eight" became the subject of much attention after the script leaked online in January, and word at the time indicated Tarantino would shelve the project. That was overturned when the writer/director staged a table read in April (but Tarantino will include a new ending for the theatrical release). Several members of the official cast were part of that event: Jackson, Russell, Goggins, Dern, Madsen and Roth were joined by Amber Tamblyn, Denis Menochet (who appeared in "Inglourious Basterds") and James Remar (from "Django Unchained").
"The Hateful Eight" will enter production in January, eyeing a fall 2015 release. Here's the official plot synopsis, courtesy of TWC:
In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…