Listen, Quentin Tarantino really wants you to see his new movie on film, okay? First he offered to release The Hateful Eight two weeks early in 70mm. But apparently that wasn’t enough for some of you Philistines, so now the celluloid-only “roadshow version” of the film will include six extra minutes of footage as well. (Yes, Tarantino can fill six minutes with banter, no problem, but that’s not the point.) This news comes via Variety, which reports that the 70mm version of The Hateful Eight will clock in at an epic three hours and two minutes, not counting a 12-minute intermission so you can refill your popcorn and go to the bathroom without missing a single frame of Kurt Russell’s mutton chops.
In a surprisingly even-handed move for a die-hard celluloid advocate, the director assures viewers that the multiplex version of The Hateful Eight isn’t inferior, just different. Several scenes that unfold in “big, long, cool, unblinking takes” in the 70mm version will be cut up for the wide release, Tarantino says: “[The shot] was awesome in the bigness of 70, but sitting on your couch, maybe it’s not so awesome. So I cut it up a little bit. It’s a little less precious about itself,” he says of the digital version of the film. “The 70 is the 70. You’ve paid the money. You’ve bought your ticket. So you’re there. I’ve got you,” he adds. “But I actually changed the cutting slightly for a couple of the multiplex scenes because it’s not that. Now it’s on Showtime Extreme … Or you’re at Hot Dog on a Stick and you just want to catch a movie,” he says, a curiously specific comment presumably providing insight into his daily routine. We’ll see you at Hot Dog on a Stick, Quentin.