Ennio Morricone to Score Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Hateful Eight’
Quentin Tarantino revealed that composer Ennio Morricone would provide the score for the director’s upcoming Western The Hateful Eight during that film’s Comic-Con panel in San Diego. With The Hateful Eight, Morricone is returning to the Spaghetti Western genre for the first time in four decades. The Italian composer previously provided the legendary scores for classic Westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West and My Name is Nobody.
For over a dozen years now – and for five (going on six) consecutive films – Tarantino has relied on Morricone’s hypnotic, intense compositions. The streak started when Kill Bill: Volume 1 employed the composer’s “From Man to Man” from the 1967 Spaghetti Western Death Rides a Horse. Kill Bill: Volume 2 and Death Proof – Tarantino’s half of 2007’s Grindhouse – also featured Morricone’s music.
Tarantino originally tried to recruit Morricone to score 2009’s Inglourious Basterds. However, the composer was unable to contribute to that World War II-era film because he was already working on Giuseppe Tornatore’s Baaria. Tarantino instead opted to use previously recorded Morricone tracks from films like The Big Gundown and Revolver. For 2012’s Django Unchained, which was largely a Spaghetti Western at heart, the director again relied on classic Morricone tracks as well as one new composition titled “Ancora Qui.”
However, it appeared that Morricone and Tarantino experienced a serious rift in 2013 when the composer told film students in Rome that the director “places music in his films without coherence” and that he “didn’t care for” Django Unchained. Soon after, Morricone clarified his statements, writing that he had “a great respect for Tarantino” and “I am glad he chooses my music.” With Morricone lined up as composer, Hateful Eight will also mark Tarantino’s first film to feature a traditional score as opposed to source music, The Hollywood Reporter writes.
During The Hateful Eight panel, Tarantino hinted yet again at a possible third volume in the Kill Bill series, telling the crowd “We’ll see. Never say never when it comes to Kill Bill 3. Uma [Thurman] would really like to do it.” However, the director confessed that the film is still a couple years away since the Kill Bill 3 would revolve around assassin Vernita Green’s daughter – Green was killed by Thurman’s character early in the film, a death that was witnessed by the young girl – and the actress who portrayed Vernita’s daughter is still too young to realistically seek revenge against Thurman’s Black Mamba on the big screen.
Tarantino also revealed that he would likely release one more film within the next five years. “I usually make three movies a decade,” Tarantino said. “[Hateful Eight] is number two for this decade.” The Hateful Eight, which stars Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Dern, arrives this Christmas.