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Business Insider It turns out Kurt Russell went a little too far in portraying a cagey bounty hunter in Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie "The Hateful Eight."
The actor is responsible for destroying a 145-year-old guitar during shooting.
4 comments:
Lucy Scherrer
said...
I've seen a few articles about this incident posted on facebook and honestly I don't understand how this happened. It seems to be one of those unfortunate mistakes that, due to its magnitude, just can't get swept under the rug. It makes no sense to me why the director wouldn't tell the actor who was in charge of breaking the prop that it was going to be switched out mid-shot, and it also makes no sense that he didn't stop the shot when the switch wasn't made. What i think is interesting about this article, however, is that it's the first one I've read that didn't blame Russell for the incident. The other things I read had made it seem like he was the one who was supposed to make the switch, and he forgot. That didn't really add up for me though because, although I've never worked on a movie set before, it seems dubious that the cast would be in charge of handling their own props, especially in a big-budget blockbuster like this. I'm not sure who to believe, but either way it seems clear that the whole story has not been told yet.
After seeing Hateful Eight I had no idea that this was an antique guitar, or that Leigh's reaction was genuine. It's such a shame that this happened, as the museum director has made it very clear that this was not something that was replaceable. At this point I think that something worth considering is that was it even a good idea to use an antique in the first place. Without getting into any spoilers the Hateful Eight is a very violent and destructive movie, so it seems like to me that it would be risky to bring something priceless into this kind of a workplace. I understand that they were going for authenticity, but I feel that the props department could have easily replicated the guitar and dubbed in the sound afterwards. Of course this would never be a perfect match, yet it still seems like a better idea. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 and no one actually meant for this to happen, but maybe in the future people will be more cautious about bringing antiques onto a very unstable set. Personally I don't place any blame on Kurt Russel for this because it wasn't his job to know that a switch off was going to happen. Even though we don't have all of the facts yet it seems like this was just a case of poor planning and bad communication.
Watching the movie clip made me cringe. A 145 year old, irreplaceable guitar is just ruined in an instant. What I find strange is that the other actor, Jennifer Leigh, knew that Kurt Russell was holding the real antique but Russell himself didn't - there was definitely insufficient communication between the crew and cast, and no one is solely responsible or free of blame. I'm also very surprised that during the scene, they didn't stop or even say anything to the actor when he didn't stop to make the switch. At the same time, I think this incident sets as a good example and will make both movie producers and museums think twice before they decide to borrow or lend out something valuable - although it's really cool to actually see a piece of antique super up close on the big screen, I don't think it's worth the risk, and accidents happen. Like Megan mentioned, this is why the props department exist.
I’m not sure how this ended up happening. There was at least one person in that scene that knew that guitar was the original and not a double and I’m guessing the director and one or two other people would have known. Why didn’t any of them stop the scene when Kurt Russel took the guitar and went to smash it? It’s not like this was a live performance that couldn’t be stopped, and even if it was I would think not accidentally destroying a 145 year old antique would be a good enough reason to stop things for a moment. It almost seems like the people in charge of the movie wanted this exact situation to happen. Why else would they not tell the Martin museum that the guitar (even if was supposed to be a double) was going to be smashed, why else would they not tell everyone involved with the scene which guitar was being used. I hope that wasn’t their plan but it certainly has generated a lot of press for them, not good press, but its getting their name out there all the same, and I’m sure there are people who will go to the movie just to see this scene now.
4 comments:
I've seen a few articles about this incident posted on facebook and honestly I don't understand how this happened. It seems to be one of those unfortunate mistakes that, due to its magnitude, just can't get swept under the rug. It makes no sense to me why the director wouldn't tell the actor who was in charge of breaking the prop that it was going to be switched out mid-shot, and it also makes no sense that he didn't stop the shot when the switch wasn't made. What i think is interesting about this article, however, is that it's the first one I've read that didn't blame Russell for the incident. The other things I read had made it seem like he was the one who was supposed to make the switch, and he forgot. That didn't really add up for me though because, although I've never worked on a movie set before, it seems dubious that the cast would be in charge of handling their own props, especially in a big-budget blockbuster like this. I'm not sure who to believe, but either way it seems clear that the whole story has not been told yet.
After seeing Hateful Eight I had no idea that this was an antique guitar, or that Leigh's reaction was genuine. It's such a shame that this happened, as the museum director has made it very clear that this was not something that was replaceable. At this point I think that something worth considering is that was it even a good idea to use an antique in the first place. Without getting into any spoilers the Hateful Eight is a very violent and destructive movie, so it seems like to me that it would be risky to bring something priceless into this kind of a workplace. I understand that they were going for authenticity, but I feel that the props department could have easily replicated the guitar and dubbed in the sound afterwards. Of course this would never be a perfect match, yet it still seems like a better idea. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 and no one actually meant for this to happen, but maybe in the future people will be more cautious about bringing antiques onto a very unstable set. Personally I don't place any blame on Kurt Russel for this because it wasn't his job to know that a switch off was going to happen. Even though we don't have all of the facts yet it seems like this was just a case of poor planning and bad communication.
Watching the movie clip made me cringe. A 145 year old, irreplaceable guitar is just ruined in an instant. What I find strange is that the other actor, Jennifer Leigh, knew that Kurt Russell was holding the real antique but Russell himself didn't - there was definitely insufficient communication between the crew and cast, and no one is solely responsible or free of blame. I'm also very surprised that during the scene, they didn't stop or even say anything to the actor when he didn't stop to make the switch. At the same time, I think this incident sets as a good example and will make both movie producers and museums think twice before they decide to borrow or lend out something valuable - although it's really cool to actually see a piece of antique super up close on the big screen, I don't think it's worth the risk, and accidents happen. Like Megan mentioned, this is why the props department exist.
I’m not sure how this ended up happening. There was at least one person in that scene that knew that guitar was the original and not a double and I’m guessing the director and one or two other people would have known. Why didn’t any of them stop the scene when Kurt Russel took the guitar and went to smash it? It’s not like this was a live performance that couldn’t be stopped, and even if it was I would think not accidentally destroying a 145 year old antique would be a good enough reason to stop things for a moment. It almost seems like the people in charge of the movie wanted this exact situation to happen. Why else would they not tell the Martin museum that the guitar (even if was supposed to be a double) was going to be smashed, why else would they not tell everyone involved with the scene which guitar was being used. I hope that wasn’t their plan but it certainly has generated a lot of press for them, not good press, but its getting their name out there all the same, and I’m sure there are people who will go to the movie just to see this scene now.
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