Exclusive: Dana Gourrier Talks The Hateful EightPosted by Wilson Morales
March 29, 2016
Out today from Anchor Bay Entertainment and The Weinstein Company is the Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD release of THE HATEFUL EIGHT, the eighth film by two-time Academy Award winner Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction).
Shot entirely on 70mm and featuring a Golden Globe and BAFTA award-winning score by Oscar winner Ennio Morricone (Bugsy, The Mission), Special features for THE HATEFUL EIGHT include two featurettes – “Beyond the Eight: A Behind-the-Scenes Look” and “Sam Jackson’s Guide to Glorious 70mm.”
In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in those parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff.
Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Demian Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…
Playing the role of Minnie and working again for Tarantino after appearing in “Django Unchained” is Dana Gourrier. Besides appearing in those two films, the New Orleans native can also be seen in HBO’s “Togetherness” and will next appear on the big screen in Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special.
Blackfilm.com recently spoke with Gourrier about her role in “Hateful Eight” as the blu-ray is now out for all to see her work.
How would you best describe Minnie?
Dana Gourrier: I would describe Minnie as a very welcoming, warm, spitfire of a woman that’s no-nonsense. She’s taking no stuff from anyone, but she’s happy to make you a meal and give you a warm blanket.
Was there a backstory to the character that you gave yourself, or is that in the deleted scenes that we probably will see, or not?
Dana Gourrier: Well, we won’t necessarily see the deleted scenes. However, there was a tremendous backstory that Quentin wrote in the script. That was the nature of Sweet Dave’s and Minnie’s relationship, and how these two odd characters got to be together on the mountain. Rumor had it that Sweet Dave had, once upon a time, either owned Minnie or knew her owners. Once she was given her freedom, he would fall in love with her and love her so much that he begged her to stay with him to the point that he would buy her her own property.
Minnie went north and bought the land. Then, you have Minnie’s Haberdashery and she was able to call the shots. Her name’s on the deed, the only name on the deed. She built her haberdashery as she saw fit. She was a woman of color and proprietor of her own business and land.
This the second time you’ve worked with Quentin. How is was it this time around?
Dana Gourrier: Pretty extraordinary, just as incredible as the first. I love being around with all those folks. A lot of them have been with him since the beginning, for decades. Our producer is really extraordinary, too. I have such a great love for Quentin, and I’ve really enjoyed working with him. I feel honored that he thought of me, honored that he thought of me for Hateful Eight.
How much have you learned from him?
Dana Gourrier: The wealth of knowledge that I have obtained, not only from Quentin, but from the other actors that I worked with in his projects is immeasurable. Anything from the understanding of the technique to the art of being in character. Plus, I like the relationship-building. My dad taught me years and years ago that everything in this life is based upon relationships. The relationship-building when the camera’s not rolling, it really does play a part in the effects of what’s happening when the camera does roll.
I think, a lot of times, some people miss that. We become disconnected on the set and not necessarily engage with other folks. Everyone has their process and their methods. On a Tarantino set, we’re like a family.
The things I’ve learned from him are just the sort of fantastic little idiosyncrasies of the, well, if you’re working at being an actor and playing a role, with the person, that director/writer that is, oh, just in love with films and filmmaking. He really, really, really, loves what he does. Actually, he really, really, really, loves the job.
I mean, the list goes on. Bruce Dern, the kindness from him. I’ve learned literally just from watching Walton Goggins, people like him, and Christoph Waltz. Sam Jackson has literally personally been like a mentor to me. You know, being green, you don’t know a whole lot, and you’re just trying to find your way. There were many times, on the set of Django, they would say something to me and give me a note, and I would get the lesson, and I would execute. Quentin did the same.
There’s a lot of gore in this movie. Are you a fan of that sort of gore?
Dana Gourrier: I didn’t know I was until I was a part of Django Unchained. The gore is there a lot. It’s a trip, but it’s honest. It’s also honest and true-to-form for the culture of a Tarantino film. Quentin has his own number of blood, how Tarantino blood is a certain number, and it’s a certain color, and it’s a certain consistency that only gets used on his sets.
The sort of intricate detail that goes into that, and the artistry that they put into their work, it can’t be ignored. Despite the violence of the act, the sort of craziness of what’s happening in front of you, what you’re seeing, I feel personally that is like … I watched that day. I was there that day when I saw what it took to redress that set. I saw what it took to have this stunt person, without I think of what happened to my character. I saw all the intricate details and work that went into it.
So, I don’t mind the gore as much as I did once upon a time. I just think of the actors and the crew and all the people involved and what they have to go through to see that fun, you know what I mean? How many times did she have to have that, or do that? How many times does this have to happen? Oh my goodness, I applaud them all.
Besides movies, you’ve been doing TV, which is good. What are you working on now?
Dana Gourrier: Right now, I’m going through a very strong pilot season. “Midnight Special,” a Jeff Nichols film that he wrote and directed, is out in theaters now. It will play everywhere this week. It’s gotten really, really, great reviews. Right now, I’m on a show called “Togetherness” on HBO with the Duplass brothers. Jay and Mark Duplass are pretty extraordinary guys. Also, Same Kind of Different as Me is coming out as well. “Heart Baby” is in post right now, which was an extraordinary film, an extraordinary film to work on. We just shot that in January and it was written and directed by Angela Shelton. That’s going to be a special film, I believe. I’m very excited about that coming out. Like I said, we just went into post with that.
Between TV and movies, which one do you prefer?
Dana Gourrier: That’s hard. That’s like asking me if I love being a singer or an actor more. I’m going to be very honest. I would say I really love films. Not that I don’t like TV. It’s just such a different energy and feeling. Although, I do love TV. I have been part of some pretty extraordinary series and I’ve loved it. There’s really good money in television.
There’s just something so dated and special about film. For me, it’s the holding onto, I don’t want to say a dying art form, because it’s not a dying art form. Filmmaking is not going anywhere, but, it’s what I originally fell in love with as a kid. I loved to watch TV, but it was really movies and film that made me fall in love with the art form, and primarily theatre, which had me fall in love with acting.
You know what? I would say film, but the money side of television would be a close, close, close, second.
Clip – Beyond The Eight (Sam, Kurt and Jennifer)
Clip – High Dive In a Low Well
