It's been revealed that the guitar Kurt Russell smashes in Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight was in fact a priceless 150-year-old instrument lent to the production by the Martin Guitar Museum in Pennsylvania.
According to an interview with SSN Insider, the film's sound designer Mark Ulano watched the whole scene unfold, and claims 64-year-old Hollywood vet Russell was not told the guitar was the real artifact before the scene took place.
'The guitar was from the 1870’s and was priceless. What was supposed to happen was we were supposed to go up to that point, cut, and trade guitars and smash the double. Well, somehow that didn’t get communicated to Kurt,' Ulano said.
At least there was some value derived from the destruction, as actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, who plays the guitar before it gets taken from her by Russell, wasn't expecting it either. 'When you see that happen on the frame, Jennifer’s reaction is genuine,' added Ulano.
As a result, bosses at the museum have vowed never to loan any further items to moviemakers. "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."
"As a result of the incident, the company will no longer loan guitars to movies under any circumstances," he continues. "We want to make sure that people know that the incident was very distressing to us. We can't believe that it happened. I don't think anything can really remedy this. We've been remunerated for the insurance value, but it's not about the money. It's about the preservation of American musical history and heritage." Russell and director Tarantino have yet to comment on the incident.
