Quentin Tarantino says new film The Hateful Eight will challenge the notion of white supremacy, characterised as it is by the racial tensions present in post-Civil War America. And while the director didn’t plan it this way, he concedes that the debate couldn’t be more timely given the current climate in the US…
“My movie is about the country being torn apart by [the Civil War],” says Tarantino in an interview with Vulture (opens in new tab), “and the racial aftermath, six, seven, eight, ten years later. The issue of white supremacy is being talked about and dealt with, and it’s what the movie’s about.”
“It was already in the script,” says QT, when the timeliness of the issue is raised. “It was already in the footage we shot. It just happens to be timely right now. We’re not trying to make it timely. It is timely. I love the fact that people are talking and dealing with the institutional racism that has existed in this country and been ignored.”
“I feel like it’s another ’60s moment,” he continues, “where the people themselves had to expose how ugly they were before things could change. I’m hopeful that that’s happening now.” Co-starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight will open in the US on Christmas Day and the UK on January 8, 2016.
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