Tarantino has two different cuts of The Hateful Eight

In a high-profile interview with the novelist and screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis in the New York Times, the Oscar-winning film-maker acknowledged attacks from African American peers over his last film, the race-themed western Django Unchained, but questioned why the colour of his skin should affect the movies he makes.

Two weeks before the film is released on Christmas day, there will be a roadshow tour screening the movie, utilizing the Ultra Panavision 70mm photography. It will be approximately six-and-a-half minutes longer than the other, longer still if you count the intermission, and the whole shebang will clock in at just over three hours. But I actually changed the cutting slightly for a couple of the multiplex scenes because it’s not that. Now its on Showtime Extreme. “But sitting on your couch, maybe it’s not so awesome”. So I cut it up a little bit. “It’s a little less precious about itself”, he added. We’ll see if it’s just film nerds and Tarantino fanboys who flock to this unique experience, or if can be sold as an experience to the mainstream at large.

Tarantino shot his upcoming film, The Hateful Eight, on 70mm.

Simply put, the limited “roadshow” engagement version will hit cinemas two weeks earlier and will project in 70 mm.

Tarantino says the six extra minutes in the 70mm cut will feature “big, long, cool, unblinking takes”. “You’ve paid the money”. So he adjusted specific scenes from the film to better accommodate the separate viewing experiences. You’ve bought your ticket.

“I didn’t realise what a lost cause 35mm projection was”, he said.

Now this is a release I am very excited about. “So you’re there. I’ve got you”, he assured.

More than 100 theaters across the country have been (or will be) retrofitted to accommodate the 70mm showing, a few at the directors expense. “I’m hoping that Hateful Eight does well enough that that becomes, for the filmmakers who care, the new premier way to launch their movie in an exclusive way”.