How Will THE HATEFUL EIGHT Fit Into Tarantino’s Film Universe?

Author’s note: I set out to write a very simple article looking back on Tarantino’s work and I wound up on a truly head-spinning journey into the mad world of Quentin Tarantino’s film universe. I believe I’ve come out of the rabbit hole more informed and slightly dazed, but with some interesting things to say. Please enjoy.

Quentin Tarantino’s on-again-off-again-on-once-again production of The Hateful Eight has been confirmed for 2015 and, reportedly, he’s joining forces with several of his favourite go-to actors like Tim Roth, Samuel L. Jackson, Zoë Bell, Kurt Russell, and Michael Madsen. I thought it might be a good time to look at the previous Tarantino films and see where this new one might fit in. The poster tells us that this is the “8th film from Quentin Tarantino,” and this is significant.

Taking a look at his directing credits, there are a lot more than eight and we need to whittle down the films. I believe them to go as follows: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vol 1 & Kill Bill: Vol 2, Death Proof, Inglorious Basterds, and Django Unchained. Notable films missing include True Romance and Four Rooms but seeing as he didn’t direct True Romance and Four Rooms was a collaborative film, I think it’s safe to leave them off the list, however they DO connect into the Tarantino Universe a.k.a Realer than Real Universe. I’m also combining the Kill Bill films, viewing them as two parts of one whole rather than two separate entities.

So starting at the beginning, let’s take a look at what Tarantino has accomplished so far!

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Tarantino’s “bottle” film, Reservoir Dogs takes place almost entirely in one location. That, combined with the snappy dialogue and ultra-violence means that every script writing teacher I’ve ever had has talked at length about the genius of this film. I don’t think you can really deny that. It put Tarantino firmly on the map and inspired a new generation of filmmakers. The IMDb summary of The Hateful Eight bears interesting similarities to that of Reservoir Dogs, so it’s possible we will see Tarantino returning to his roots. Both Tim Roth and Michael Madsen starred in Reservoir Dogs; might we discover new ancestry to their previous characters with The Hateful Eight?

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Arguably Tarantino’s most popular film, Pulp Fiction changed the game. Mixed up timelines, strange connections to Reservoir Dogs (Vega brothers, anyone?), and a blatant disregard for traditional storytelling and payoffs, Pulp Fiction embraces a love of pop culture and is the first film to really set up the Realer than Real Universe. Its constant flashback and flashforward technique may make appearances in The Hateful Eight, but we can’t know for sure until it’s been edited, though the leaked script did have a flashback chapter.

It’s also notable as Tarantino’s first collaboration with Samuel L. Jackson and the backstory to his character, Jules, remains unclear. It’s of course mere speculation, but it seems reasonable that Jackson’s Union soldier-turned-bounty hunter character from Hateful Eight could be somehow related to another of the Jackson-Tarantino characters, such as Jules Winnfield.

Jackie Brown (1997)

Even though Tarantino adapted Jackie Brown from the novel by Elmore Leonard, I don’t agree with the general view that it shouldn’t be accepted as part of the Realer than Real Universe. It ticks all the boxes –  heavy on pop culture references, homages to blacksploitation and the 1970’s in general.

Granted, there are no definitive or verifiable links such as those which exist between Tarantino’s other work, but I still hold that it feasibly could take place in the same world, or be considered at the very least a movie movie (see below for further description on that). That being said, it seems doubtful that Tarantino will draw any links directly to this with The Hateful Eight.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

You may have noticed on the infographic that Kill Bill is described as a “movie movie“. This means it’s a film set within the Realer than Real Universe – i.e. a film that characters in Tarantino’s other films will have watched. The obvious speculation here is that Uma Thurman’s actress character from Pulp Fiction plays The Bride in the Kill Bill series and that’s old news.

However, an eagle eyed Redditor spotted that the grave The Bride gets buried in and escapes from in Kill Bill belongs to the wife of Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained. This would support the idea that the Kill Bills take place in the regular universe rather than the sub-universe OR that Django Unchained is a “movie movie” (more on this later).

The Hateful Eight could easily go either way here. Zoë Bell, who stunt doubled for Uma Thurman on the Kill Bill series, reportedly has a leading role on Hateful Eight. Is she just playing Six-Horse Judy or is she playing Mia Wallace’s stunt double playing Six-Horse Judy? It makes my head hurt.

Death Proof (2007)

Death Proof piques my interest on this list for two reasons. One, it was released as part of Grindhouse with Robert Rodriguez and as such nearly wasn’t included in my list but this DVD cover changed my mind. Two, Zoë Bell plays herself and that just works perfectly into my theory that Zoë Bell is also a character within the Tarantino Universe. Here’s how.

It’s generally accepted by the fan theorists that Death Proof is part of the Realer than Real Universe with interesting crossovers into the movie movies and this is substantiated by Tarantino himself. There are what the director calls “crossover characters”, the most obvious example of this is the character of Earl McGraw played by Michael Parks in both Kill Bill and Death Proof, and I believe Bell fits into this category as well.

The character of Zoë Bell in the Realer than Real Universe is a stunt double/actress. Therefore, it makes sense for her to appear in other films, like the upcoming Hateful Eight, which I’m becoming more and more convinced is a part of the Movie Movie Sub-Universe.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

There’s no question to me that Inglourious Basterds is part of the Realer than Real Universe and lots of theorists have already speculated about how it’s rewriting of history influences the characters in the rest of the main Universe. Pop culture becomes hugely important to them because of the events which unfolded here. It also establishes a nonchalant attitude towards ultra violence and an acceptance of this as a solution to problems. This would also be reflected in how these characters go to portray historical events in period movie movies, such as:

Django Unchained (2012)

So I’ve mentioned it briefly before, but now I’m going to repeat it. I think Django Unchained is a movie movie and this leads me to believe that The Hateful Eight will be as well. I’ve discussed some of my reasoning for this already: the bizarre connection between this film and Kill Bill. But then there’s the fact that Tarantino not-so-subtly alluded to Django and Broomhilda being the ancestors to the fictional character of Shaft, which reason would suggest makes them fictional characters as well.

The original Django Unchained poster is reminiscent of 1960’s and 70’s Western film posters and is markedly different from the style of any Tarantino film posters firmly placed in the Realer than Real Universe, except for the upcoming Hateful Eight poster. You’ve also got a large portion of repeat casting from Django into Eight (Walter Goggins, Christoph Waltz), which, yes Tarantino does anyway, but still provides a solid point of reason I feel, particularly with the Zoë Bell the person/Zoë Bell the character possibilities.

Quentin Tarantino has already well established two worlds into which this new film might land, and I have strong suspicions it may just fall into both. It’s all just speculation at this point, even with the leaked script, because until the final edit is locked no film is finished. What I think we can expect for sure is a lot of witty dialogue, violence, and bad-assery in a general Tarantino fashion, so I’m at the very least looking forward to it.

Where do you think The Hateful Eight will fit in to Tarantino’s worlds? Or will it establish something new? Let me know in the comments.

(top image source: Pulp Fiction – Miramax Pictures)