Earlier this year, Gawker leaked a Quentin Tarantino script for a Western called The Hateful Eight. Tarantino pitched a huge fit, said he was cancelling the movie, and then sued Gawker Media. Now, ten months later, he’s preparing to shoot The Hateful Eight and he’s dropped that lawsuit against Gawker. Coincidence or conspiracy?
The Hateful Eight has come together with Jennifer Jason Leigh as the female lead and Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, and Kurt Russell filling out the cast. Tarantino has rewritten the script—and is going to insane lengths to keep it from leaking again—and apparently now there’s a part for Mr. Potato Head because Deadline is reporting that Channing Tatum is up for a “major role” in the movie. That’s one, Hateful Eight. That’s your first casting rumor. If this one falls through, I’ll pay attention to the second one, but after that, I will no longer be obligated to care about casting for this movie. That’s the new rule. Two blown casting rumors and we all stop caring.
We’re living in the McConaissance, but I think Tatum’s career makeover is at least as impressive as Matthew McConaughey’s. At least with McConaughey, we knew there was talent there, he just wasn’t using it for a while. Channing Tatum got his start in dance-off movies and cheesy B-grade action flicks, showing questionable talent at best, and now he’s a legit Oscar contender and has come to a place where people accept that he could star in a Quentin Tarantino movie. It’s not so much a career renaissance as it is a career coup. Whoever thought that Mr. Potato Head would be this guy?
