Quentin Tarantino Purposely Filmed In Extreme Cold Weather For This Western Movie To Shoot Faster

Walton Goggins recalls Quentin Tarantino filming in blistering cold weather to speed up production for The Hateful Eight. Taking place in the middle of a snowstorm in Wyoming, Tarantino’s 2015 Western thriller stars Kurt Russell as John “The Hangman” Ruth, Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy.

Despite being set in Wyoming, the movie’s interior scenes were sH๏τ at Red Studios in Hollywood, with the exterior scenes at Schmid Ranch near Telluride, Colorado. The movie won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and an Academy Award for Best Music. Leigh was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, while Robert Richardson was nominated for Best Cinematography.

Sitting down with Vanity Fair, Goggins revealed that Tarantino tried to film in freezing weather to allegedly film faster. The actor recalled the set of The Hateful Eight being “deathly cold” and “miserable.” Goggins also recalled seeing Russell “talking to a chair” because of how cold he was. Check Goggins’ comments below:

This stage was the coldest any one of us had ever been in our entire life. It was colder than the entire state of Colorado. And we sH๏τ it on stage once we were at that portion of the production schedule in Hollywood. Quentin said, you know, I’m gonna make it this cold so that I shoot faster. Only every day he just kept wearing heavier jackets. So he was warm while the rest of us were, you know, deathly, deathly cold. […] The conditions were so miserable. There was one time I caught Kurt Russell just talking to a chair. He was so cold he was having a conversation with a chair. As if the chair was talking back to him. That’s how tired and out of our minds we were over the course of making this.

What This BTS Story Means For Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight

Marquis walking in the snow in The Hateful Eight

Both Russell and Jackson have previously commented on the filming conditions of this movie. Both actors admitted to having worked on colder sets, but they usually were able to warm up indoors from time to time. However, they both reported battling constant coldness while filming The Hateful Eight.

Goggins’ comments offer viewers some insight into what shooting The Hateful Eight was really like, revealing how the cast kept their spirits up despite the challenging weather conditions. While Russell and Jackson revealed that filming outdoors in the cold was intentional, Goggins finally clarifies the real reason behind it.

Tarantino has a reputation for pushing for perfection in his movies, and The Hateful Eight was particularly challenging to capture on camera. The filmmaker took his antique 70mm lenses to the Rocky Mountains in the middle of winter. Additionally, Russell accidentally broke a priceless vintage guitar because the filmmaker instructed him to smash it for real.

Our Take On Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight’s Production

Kurt Russell as John Ruth yelling at Major Marquis Warren in a snowy forest in 2015's The Hateful Eight — Kurt Russell as John Ruth yelling at Major Marquis Warren in a snowy forest in 2015’s *The Hateful Eight*.

The Hateful Eight encountered a lot of challenges before it arrived in theaters. Before the freezing cold blizzard that challenged the cast and crew physically, the murder mystery’s script was leaked online, and Tarantino almost abandoned the project. Once they were in Colorado, the production ran into good weather and no snow.

The fake snow then melted and forced the production to temporarily halt until a storm, and the long wait made the process even harsher for the cast and crew of The Hateful Eight. However, despite the challenges, the 2015 Western thriller movie about eight characters trapped together in the middle of a snowstorm turned out to be a unique addition to the genre.