Tarantino, Morricone Scoring Hateful Eight in Prague

Both Tarantino and Morricone are currently in Prague to record the score for The Hateful Eight, a Western starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell slated to be released later this year. 

The recording session began on Saturday at the Czech National Symphony Orchestra’s studio in Hostivař, and is expected to finish today, according to Hospodářské noviny. 

On Sunday night, Tarantino and Morricone were invited to the final performance from this year’s Prague Proms festival, a Hollywood Night featuring music from classic films including The Mission, for which Morricone received an Oscar nomination.

iDnes has put together a small gallery of the duo working together in the Prague studio.

The original score is a first for Tarantino, who has previously utilized existing music for his films. The director has used so many Morricone tracks in his past films that a Tarantino/Morricone compilation CD has been released.

Morricone previously conducted the Czech National Symphony Orchestra for the soundtrack to 2013’s The Best Offer, which was also partially shot in Prague. 

But the 86-year-old composer hasn’t scored a Western in over thirty years; his last soundtrack in that genre seems to have been 1981’s Bud Spencer vehicle Buddy Goes West. 

Morricone turned down the chance to work with Clint Eastwood out of respect for director Sergio Leone, whose ‘Man with No Name’ trilogy in the 1960s shot all three to stardom. Last year, he expressed regret for that decision.

Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight has had an interesting production history. In early 2014, the director claimed he would abandon the film after a copy of his script leaked online. But after a successful script reading in Los Angeles, the director decided to continue with the project. 

Morricone is, perhaps, the film world’s most renowned living composer, though he has never won an Oscar; he was nominated twice, for 1978’s Days of Heaven and 1986’s The Mission. 

Tarantino’s previous two films have both won Oscars; Django Unchained took home Best Original Screenplay, and Christophe Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for both Django and Inglourious Basterds.

The Hateful Eight is set to open stateside on Christmas Day. It will see release in international territories, including the Czech Republic, shortly thereafter.