In the interview, the director revealed that Legendary Hollywood producer and frequent collaborator Harvey Weinstein originally tried to convince him to make his new spaghetti western as a play instead of a film, but he wasn’t interested in that idea at first.
“Harvey actually — he tried to talk me into doing it as a play first,” Tarantino said. “He said, ‘Let’s just say this out loud before we commit to doing the movie.’ And I was like, ‘Look, I could. But I like the mystery aspect and the mystery aspect will really only work in the movie. And I have the 70mm and I have the snow. So let me do that.’”
The film was released over Christmas 2015 on one hundred 70mm film projectors scattered about the United States, with digital projection releases following one week later. It has recieved generally positive reviews from both critics and longtime Tarantino fans alike, and legendary composer Ennio Morricone recently won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for his part in the film’s creation.
Due to its mostly-stagnant setting, with the majority of the action taking place inside a stagecoach stopover during a blizzard, the film seems to be easily positioned for the stage, which typically offers far fewer scene changes than a feature film.
Tarantino says that he already knows how he will do it. “I’ve thought it out completely,” he said, “I’m just waiting for this [awards] season to be over so I can write it. I gotta put myself there and write it for this.”
The project has no set production plans, but if anyone could convince Hollywood-level actors to abandon the screen for a minute, it’s Quentin Tarantino. So, maybe, just maybe, fans of the film will get to see Samuel L. Jackson play his fierce Major Marquis Warren character in the flesh someday in the future.
