When it was announced that Quentin Tarantino's next film - The Hateful Eight - would be a Western, it didn't come as much of a surprise. After all, he's a huge fan of the genre, many of his non-Western films have Western influences, and that's on top of the fact that Django Unchained (his one and only true Western film) was his biggest hit ever.

Alas, for those who were looking forward to Tarantino's return to the Western genre, we have some unfortunate news for you: after the script for the film was recently leaked, the writer-director announced that he's shelving the film - perhaps indefinitely.

Quentin Tarantino talked to Mike Fleming Jr. at Deadline to discuss his decision to shelve the project. Apparently, he realized that the script had been leaked when agents started calling his agent to pitch their clients for parts from the film. Said Tarantino:

"I’m very, very depressed. I finished a script, a first draft, and I didn’t mean to shoot it until next winter, a year from now. I gave it to six people, and apparently it’s gotten out today."

But who could've leaked it? Tarantino has some leads:

"I gave it to three actors: Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Tim Roth. The one I know didn’t do this is Tim Roth. One of the others let their agent read it, and that agent has now passed it on to everyone in Hollywood. I don’t know how these f****ing agents work, but I’m not making this next. I’m going to publish it, and that’s it for now. I give it out to six people, and if I can’t trust them to that degree, then I have no desire to make it. I’ll publish it. I’m done. I’ll move on to the next thing. I’ve got 10 more where that came from."

Now, Tarantino isn't so much angry about the script being leaked to the public before the film's release; rather, he's angry that a person he entrusted with the script passed it on without his approval.

Quentin Tarantino

Said Tarantino:

"I am not talking out of both sides of my mouth, because I do like the fact that everyone eventually posts it, gets it and reviews it on the net. Frankly, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I like the fact that people like my shit, and that they go out of their way to find it and read it. But I gave it to six m*********ing people! Starting this week, I’ll be setting meetings with publishers."

Meeting with publishers because he plans to publish the script on its own. He went on to say that he could eventually find his way to making the film down the line, but it's definitely not the film he's doing next.

So, what is he doing next? According to Tarantino:

"The idea was, I was going to write two scripts. I wasn’t going to shoot the Western until next winter, and I have been full of piss and vinegar about the other one. So now I’ll do that one."

No real word on what "the other one" is actually about, unfortunately. Presumably, it's not a Western. (Read Fleming's full interview with Tarantino here.)

I may be the only one, but I'm kind of okay with this news. Don't get me wrong, I was a big fan of Django and I'd definitely be interested in him tackling a Western down the line. That said, I'd much prefer to see him take on some completely new material instead. There's a lot of genres he's talked about wanting to work in - including horror (Death Proof doesn't really count) - and it would be nice to see what he could do with them.

There's also the lingering possibility that Tarantino's just really angry now and by next week he'll have cooled off enough to be down with directing The Hateful Eight next winter, as was originally planned. Time will tell.

What say you, Screen Ranters? Is this news disappointing? Drop us a line in the comments.

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Stay tuned to Screen Rant for more news about The Hateful Eight (or whatever Quentin Tarantino ends up directing next).

Follow me on Twitter @benandrewmoore.

Source: Deadline