It turns out Kurt Russell went a little too far in portraying a cagey bounty hunter in Quentin Tarantinoâs latest movie "The Hateful Eight."
The actor is responsible for destroying a 145-year-old guitar during shooting.
The guitar, which Jennifer Jason Leighâs character plays in one scene until itâs snatched by Russell, who then smashes it against a pillar, was a one-of-a-kind Martin from the 1870s that was on loan from the Martin Guitar Museum.
In all fairness, Russell didn't know he was handling an antique in the scene. And according to Dick Boak, the director of the museum, archives, and special projects for C.F. Martin & Co., the production didn't fess up to exactly how the guitar was destroyed.
âWe assumed that a scaffolding or something fell on it,â Boak told Reverb. âWe understand that things happen, but at the same time we canât take this lightly. All this about the guitar being smashed being written into the script and that somebody just didnât tell the actor, this is all new information to us. We didnât know anything about the script or Kurt Russell not being told that it was a priceless, irreplaceable artifact from the Martin Museum.â
The filmâs sound mixer, Mark Ulano, filled in SSN Insider:Â
"What was supposed to happen was we were supposed to go up to that point, cut, and trade guitars and smash the double,â according to Ulano, who said six doubles were made of the Martin guitar. âWell, somehow that didnât get communicated to Kurt, so when you see that happen on the frame, Jenniferâs reaction is genuine.â
Hereâs the destruction of the Martin in the movie (check out Leighâs reaction at the end):
Boak told Reverb that the museum has been remunerated for the insurance value of the guitar.
But that wasn't enough to heal the matter.
"As a result of the incident, the company will no longer loan guitars to movies under any circumstances,â Boak told SSN.
Business Insider contacted Boak to try to get an idea of the value of the destroyed guitar. He said he wouldn't provide more comments about the matter, only stating, âItâs not replaceable.â
r0botdevil on November 27th, 2017 at 16:42 UTC »
I remember reading about this when it happened. Why the fuck would you ever use a vintage antique for a movie shoot when a replica would have exactly the same effect??
TooShiftyForYou on November 27th, 2017 at 16:10 UTC »
The scene with Jennifer Jason Leigh's reaction knowing it was the real guitar.
cantlearnham on November 27th, 2017 at 15:37 UTC »
Jennifer Jason Leigh’s reaction is the best!! She knew it was the real one