Kurt Russell Smashed 150-Year-Old Guitar in 'Hateful Eight' & Its Museum Is Pissed
Kurt Russell Smashed a 150-Year-Old Guitar in 'The Hateful Eight' & Its Museum Is Really Mad
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This time, the authenticity of Quentin Tarantino’s period films went a little too far.
Did you see The Hateful Eight? Do you remember the scene where Kurt Russell grabs a guitar from Jennifer Jason Leigh and smashes it?
Well, it wasn’t a prop guitar, but a genuine 1870s six-string on loan from the Martin Guitar Museum. And needless to say, the Martin Guitar Museum isn’t happy.
Read its official statement below, via Reverb:
“We were informed that it was an accident on set,” [museum director Dick] Boak says. “We assumed that a scaffolding or something fell on it. We understand that things happen, but at the same time we can’t take this lightly. All this about the guitar being smashed being written into the script and that somebody just didn’t tell the actor, this is all new information to us. We didn’t know anything about the script or Kurt Russell not being told that it was a priceless, irreplaceable artifact from the Martin Museum.
Hateful Eight sound mixer Mark Ulano said a replica guitar was supposed to replace the original Martin just before the scripted smashing. However, he said no one communicated this to Russell who went ahead and unknowingly destroyed the expensive heirloom.
The Martin Guitar Museum announced it is no longer loaning to movies, which isn’t much of a consolation. The Hateful Eight guitar was destroyed beyond repair, and it appears a heap of money wouldn’t do much to help, since the guitar was so rare.
Word to the wise -- get those props straight, especially if they look really, really authentic.
