The Hateful Eight: Tarantino Shows 7 Minutes of Footage, New Poster

Come for the movie panel, stay for the film school lesson. That's what happened today at the SDCC 2015 panel for Quentin Tarantino's upcoming The Hateful Eight, where the thousands crammed into the vast hall got a brief education on why Tarantino shot the film on 70mm and why it's being released at first (on Christmas Day) in the long-dormant roadshow format (limited engagement, overture and intermission, reserved seating and program books are all part of that package, which was popular in the late '50s and '60s).

A short video starring QT and Samuel L. Jackson (who could not make it to Comic-Con this year) explained the history of roadshows, 70mm, and Ultra-Panavision, also a long unused format that the director wanted to use. For his Western, he wanted to capture the most spectacular vistas possible, but argued that the large film stock is also terrific for intimate character interactions -- which we'll get a lot of since The Hateful Eight is set mostly in a snowbound cabin.

Why a roadshow version? Simple: it costs a lot of money for both the distributor and the theater owners to strike and screen 70mm prints, so a limited release was the most feasible (the wide release will be projected in standard formats).

Tarantino also reiterated a lot of this live after the short video with his usual hyper-fast speaking style and boundless energy, before introducing a special seven-minute presentation of footage cut together (to Ennio Morricone's score for The Thing) specially for SDCC.

The footage opens with wintry Western landscapes before closing in on a stagecoach struggling through the storm. Inside are John Ruth (Kurt Russell), a bounty hunter, and his prisoner, Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh), as well as Samuel L. Jackson and Walton Goggins. When they can't make it through the snow anymore, driver Demian Bichir finds a cabin to hole up in -- which already contains Tim Roth, Bruce Dern, and Michael Madsen. The expected tensions flare and will no doubt lead to violence, murder, and lots and lots of dialogue.

Tarantino then brought out seven of the Eight (minus Jackson) for an extended discussion and Q & A. Asked about the possibility of ever doing Kill Bill 3, QT said, "Never say never...Uma wants to do it and we talk about it once in a while."

The director was also asked about his recent statement that he might retire after making 10 films (this was his eighth), to which he replied that a lot depends on whether he can keep shooting and releasing his movies on film, adding that he could very well move to TV and make miniseries since "all my scripts get cut down anyway when I make them into movies."

Kurt Russell was asked about his process for playing John Ruth, to which he answered that he drew upon "six very specific people" to play Ruth and that he was "struggling a bit (to get the character) and Quentin helped me find my way."

The best comments, however, came from Bruce Dern, who first said he fit into the movie because "[Tarantino] grew up watching me be a jerk on television," but then went on to say that "the excitement for all of us was just to be asked to be in his movie...[Tarantino] has the greatest attention to detail as any director who ever lived—I think his only rival would be Luchino Visconti."

Dern added, "I was excited because I thought we might have a chance to do something that was never done."

The Ennio Morricone scoring for the footage was not accidental: before the panel ended, Tarantino announced that the legendary composer was creating his first original Western score in 40 years for The Hateful Eight.

Also revealed at Comic-Con was a brand new poster for the film:

The Hateful Eight opens on Christmas Day.