Kurt Russell Praises Jennifer Jason Leigh for Being the Lone Woman on The Hateful Eight Team
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Quentin Tarantino is back at it again, taking over Christmas with the release of another violent thriller, The Hateful Eight. Although we'll have to wait until December 25 to see the boisterous plot twister, InStyle had a chance to chat with two of the movie's stars, Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh, for a heads up on some of the jaw dropping surprises movie-goers might see—as well as what it really was like for Leigh to be the only woman in the rowdy group.
Tarantino has established himself as one of the greatest writers and directors of our time and Leigh gushed to InStyle about the opportunity to work with such talent, "Well, it was just the best experience of my life, certainly," she confessed. "It really was incredible to be able to go to work every day and say his words and work with this group of people and be constantly surprised even though you knew exactly what was coming. You always got sucked in and drawn in to every scene, every moment." Russell agreed with Leigh and went on to elaborate, "Yeah, it was a pretty rare experience and he's completely unique in every fashion. It was the greatest experience I've ever had at 54 years. [Leigh's] a woman, so I won't say she's been in it that long. But between us, there's close to a hundred years," Russell joked.
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The Hateful Eight, which also stars Samuel L. Jackson, definitely sounds like a special film packed with awesome talent all around, and what's even more special is that Leigh stood her ground even though she had to work around so much testosterone. The tough scenes certainly didn't mess with her confidence, and it seemed like a breeze for the tough girl who exclaimed, "I thought it was fantastic. Can you imagine? I mean, to be the only women in this group of guys? How lucky can one get? And to be handcuffed to Kurt the whole time. I still miss it. I do."
Russell also had nothing but great things to say about the tough actress. "If anybody has earned the right to be part of this crew, it's that girl. I'm here to tell you all of the guys agreed, none of us could have done it. We would have bitched. We would have complained. We would have quit. All of us would have fallen down, but she never stumbled. She never even considered saying anything negative, ever. And we were all stunned by that because we just couldn't have done it. We just would have said, 'Get that machine that's blowing that crap in my face out of here!' And she physically had to deal with it. And her eyes got wrecked. And this was not easy. And she had the roughest end of it, by far, which you'll see. And I was responsible for some of that," chuckled Russell.
It looks like Leigh's character went through a lot in the film, but according to Russell things aren't always how they appear to be. He even went on to share the film is full of unexpected twists. "I think what will be surprising is about three quarters of the way through the movie, you begin to find out some of the things you thought were true, aren't. Some of the things you knew were true, aren't." It looks like we'll have to sit tight until December 25 to get the full story when The Hateful Eight hits theaters.
—With reporting by Scott Huver