By now you may have seen any number of pictures from Quentin Tarantino‘s upcoming film The Hateful Eight — like these, or these — and if you haven’t, chances are you at least know the film revolves around travelers who seek refuge at a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass in wintry Wyoming in the years following the American Civil War.
Wyoming is one of those places that gets cold in the winter, really cold, and instead of opting for a bunch of CGI snow and fake breath, Tarantino shot the film during winter in Telluride, both in actual snow and on a refrigerated set to give his actors a sense of what their characters were going through, freezing half-to-death as they make their way across the tundra. In an interview with Collider, star Samuel L. Jackson said of the shoot:
All of us are so anxious to see this movie because, every day, the work was incredible. It was taxing, in a very interesting way, because we were in the snow, at first, and then we get inside this room. Quentin shot on a refrigerated set, and it was 30 degrees, every day, in there. We were miserable in the environment. You could see our breath, but the stuff that we were doing was amazing.
I grew up in Minnesota, and for 18 years I survived those harsh freezing winters, so I can relate to what Jackson and the rest of the crew — “The Haters”, they apparently came to refer to themselves — were experiencing. Let’s just say being cold all the time isn’t exactly pleasant. Jackson continues:
We would finish doing a scene and look at each other and just grin like, “This is incredible.” And we may be blowing smoke up our own asses, but I hope it’s as good as we felt like it was when we were doing it.
It’s probably no surprise Jackson feels as strongly as he does, considering all the actor’s prior films with Tarantino have turned out pretty well. I just hope it’s as good as they all think it is. The Hateful Eight is expected to be released sometime around Christmas, perfect timing for both the winter season and Oscar season. Joining Jackson to round out the titular eight are Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Demián Bichir and Tim Roth.
