Film + TV

Quentin Tarantino destroyed a priceless antique guitar in 'The Hateful Eight'

by Jeremy Mersereau

Whether making Mélanie Laurent work as a projectionist in preparation for her role in Inglorious Basterds or driving the real Pussy Wagon around to promote Kill Bill 2, Quentin Tarantino goes the extra mile when making his movies.

Sometimes, maybe more than he should: on the set of The Hateful Eight, the director didn’t stop Kurt Russell from smashing a priceless antique Martin guitar from the 1870s during a scene with Jennifer Jason Leigh.

So, what went wrong? Well, as Academy Award-winning sound mixer Mark Ulano, who worked on the film, told SSNinsider:

“The guitar was a loaner from the Martin Guitar Museum and there were six doubles made. The guitar was from the 1870s and was priceless. What was supposed to happen was we were supposed to go up to that point, cut, and trade guitars and smash the double. Well, somehow that didn’t get communicated to Kurt, so when you see that happen on the frame, Jennifer’s reaction is genuine. Tarantino was in a corner of the room with a funny curl on his lips, because he got something out of it with the performance.”

For those who still haven’t seen The Hateful Eight, here’s the scene in question:

No disrespect to the considerable acting ability of Jennifer Jason Leigh but, yep, that’s definitely the reaction of someone seeing a priceless antique destroyed before their eyes.

“As a result of the incident, the company will no longer loan guitars to movies under any circumstances,” Martin museum director Dick Boak told Reverb, presumably through a haze of tears and a Kill Bill-style assassination list with ‘Quentin Tarantino’ at the top.