When it comes to the music world, Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight was a film that both gave and took away. Sure, its Ennio Morricone-produced score was nominated for an Oscar, but the shooting of the film also resulted in the destruction of a priceless musical heirloom.
The film contains a scene where Kurt Russell's John Ruth character swipes a guitar from Jennifer Jason Leigh's Daisy Domergue and smashes it to pieces. The acoustic was a priceless Martin Guitar built in the 1870s and it was meant to be swapped out with a replica right before the smash.
Unfortunately, however, no prop was used and the 145-year old guitar was totally destroyed. This news was revealed via a new story from SSNInsider [via NME].
Speaking to Reverb, the Martin Guitar Museum's Dick Bloak is understandably pissed. He explains that his organization leant their priceless guitar to Tarantino's movie on the understanding that it'd be used as a background prop.
"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," Bloak said. "We didn't know anything about the script or Kurt Russell not being told that it was a priceless, irreplaceable artefact from the Martin Museum."
"We were informed that it was an accident on set," he added. "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."
Bloak explained that the Martin Guitar Museum has been remunerated for the guitar's insurance value, but that doesn't bring the irreplaceable item back. "It's about the preservation of American musical history and heritage," he said.
The Martin Guitar Museum has since announced that they'll never lend their guitars to the film industry ever again.
The film contains a scene where Kurt Russell's John Ruth character swipes a guitar from Jennifer Jason Leigh's Daisy Domergue and smashes it to pieces. The acoustic was a priceless Martin Guitar built in the 1870s and it was meant to be swapped out with a replica right before the smash.
Unfortunately, however, no prop was used and the 145-year old guitar was totally destroyed. This news was revealed via a new story from SSNInsider [via NME].
Speaking to Reverb, the Martin Guitar Museum's Dick Bloak is understandably pissed. He explains that his organization leant their priceless guitar to Tarantino's movie on the understanding that it'd be used as a background prop.
"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," Bloak said. "We didn't know anything about the script or Kurt Russell not being told that it was a priceless, irreplaceable artefact from the Martin Museum."
"We were informed that it was an accident on set," he added. "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."
Bloak explained that the Martin Guitar Museum has been remunerated for the guitar's insurance value, but that doesn't bring the irreplaceable item back. "It's about the preservation of American musical history and heritage," he said.
The Martin Guitar Museum has since announced that they'll never lend their guitars to the film industry ever again.
