The One Line of Dialogue Quentin Tarantino Cut Out of THE HATEFUL EIGHT
The Hateful Eight was one of my favorite movies of 2015, and as you know, Quentin Tarantino doesn’t really shy away from putting controversial things in his films. A lot of people will find a lot of things offensive about the filmmaker's recent movie. The Hateful Eight is set in the post-Civil War period of American history, and some of the major themes associated with that are race and bigotry. There was one thing that he cut out of the film, though. It was a line of dialogue spoken by Walton Goggins, who plays Sherriff Chris Mannix. The line was:
“You ask the white folks in South Carolina if they feel safe.”
This line would have been spoken by Mannix early on in the film to Major Marquis Warren, who was played by Samuel L. Jackson. It’s part of Mannix’s view of race relations.
Why was it cut out? Because of the tragic shooting that took place at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. A domestic terrorist fired on a number of black churchgoers in the name of white supremacy and the Confederate flag.
When the line of dialogue was written, obviously no one expected something like that to happen. After it did, though, the line took on a whole new meaning that was beyond what was intended in the film, so Tarantino cut it.
In the same interview with The Telegraph, the director talked about his distaste for the confederate flag, saying that it is the American swastika. Tarantino said:
“All of a sudden, people started talking about the Confederacy in America in a way they haven’t before. I mean, I’ve always felt the Rebel flag was some American Swastika. And, well, now, all of a sudden, people are talking about it, and now they’re banning it, and now it’s not OK to have it on f______ licence plates, and coffee cups, and stuff.
“And people are starting to question about stuff like statues of Bedford Forrest [the Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard] in parks. Well, it’s about damn time, if you ask me.”
It makes sense to me that Tarantino decided to cut the line. What do you think about Tarantino's statements here?