QT8: The First Eight, a documentary covering Quentin Tarantino’s film career through the eyes of his collaborators has revealed the filmmaker based a misogynistic Hateful Eight character on Harvey Weinstein.
Stacey Sher, who collaborated with Tarantino on Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, revealed in the documentary The Hateful Eight’s John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth, who was played by Kurt Russell, was based on Weinstein, who produced the film.
According to IndieWire, Sher said of the brutally misogynistic character, “If you read it on the page it was a little more accurate. Kurt is the most charming person on the planet.”
In the movie, John Ruth is a bounty hunter who assaults his prisoner Daisy Domergue played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Weinstein clearly had no idea the horrible character was based on him because the movie had his full backing.
The Weinstein Company released The Hateful Eight in December of 2015, nearly two years before the many allegations against Weinstein went public. The movie was the last Tarantino film made under Weinstein.
Tarantino was aware of Weinstein’s alleged history of sexual abuse and harassment at the time he wrote the film in 2013-14. In 2017, Tarantino spoke to The New York Times and admitted he knew of Weinstein’s behaviour.
Tarantino’s former girlfriend Mira Sorvino told him Weinstein had touched her and made unwanted advances.
The director explained, “I knew enough to do more than I did… There was more to it than just the normal rumours, the normal gossip. It wasn’t secondhand. I knew he did a couple of these things. I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard. If I had done the work I should have done then, I would have had to not work with him.”
He added, “What I did was marginalize the incidents. Anything I say now will sound like a crappy excuse…I chalked it up to a ’50s-’60s era image of a boss chasing a secretary around the desk. As if that’s ok. That’s the egg on my face right now.”
The Weinstein Company collapsed following the multiple allegations against the producer. Tarantino worked with Sony on Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, the first movie to be made without Weinstein.
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