‘Batman v Superman’ director rides in Batmobile

Replied the director, “If I can’t shoot on film, we’ll see what happens”. They say, it’s not about comic books anymore; that’s BS. The director and his DP Robert Richardson (not present) have dusted off Ultra Panavision lenses (find a handy guide to the format here) to shot their snowbound Western in 65mm. “[There’s this idea that] 70mm is for travelogues or Lawrence Of Arabia”, he said. “Then we found this, which is the biggest format available, aside from that Grand Canyon stuff at Disney World”.

“It’s not that they used these type of lenses on Ben Hur”.

From a 70mm roadshow to a surprising connection to Ben-Hur. “These are the same lenses they used”. Hailed like a returning hero, Tarantino took to the stage to show off first-ever footage of the movie. Tarantino filed a lawsuit and, at the time, said he was shelving the project because of the leak, before ultimately revealing at Comic-Con 2014 that he would indeed make it. “By losing film projection, we’ve already ceded too much ground to the barbarians”. “Maybe ten movies and then I do three mini-series, and they can be as long as I want”. Leigh has a black eye and broken nose throughout the film.

The panelists mostly talked about the unique experience of working for Tarantino. With this one, I wasn’t there yet. “But my process is my process, so even though I yelled and I screamed, I kept doing what I was going to do”. “Mad like a fox”. Otherwise you’re a dabbler. “So, I will make a third Western so I can call myself a Westerns director and throw my hat onto that table”.

Bichir got his part as “The Mexican” on the recommendation of Robert Rodriguez. “I quite like the idea of ten and done”, ruminated the writer/director, now on number eight.

Even Roth got in on the grandstanding for film, saying that for the actors, shooting with the grand old Ultra Panavision “is like, ‘Hey, we’re in a movie”. But I might make 15.

“There’s a couple of things I’ll say”, he continued, “although it’s not directly an answer to your question: the excitement for all of us was to be asked by this man to be in this movie”. Little movies for television. His pick: “The scene in the French farm house at the beginning of Inglorious Basterds“. It’ll be his first western score in 40 years.

No topping that news; with that the panel was over.

In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape.