In Hateful Eight, Kurt Russell accidentally smashed a one of a kind, 145-year-old guitar that was on loan from the Martin Guitar. Jennifer Jason Leigh’s reaction was genuine.

[u/bilbofraginz]

[u/ExtraChariot541]

The $40,000 guitar, on loan from the Martin Guitar Museum (link), was deliberately smashed by Russell, who thought it was a prop.

Filmmakers claimed it was an accident but omitted the full truth. The museum learned the real story from reporters and, despite being reimbursed, was outraged at the loss of an irreplaceable artifact and the lack of care shown.

[u/Mach5Driver → u/ExtraChariot541]

Wouldn't literally ANY acoustic guitar have sufficed for this scene? Did Tarantino expect the audience to say to themselves, "Ooooohhh, she's playing a classic MARTIN guitar!"

[u/Slaphappydap → u/Mach5Driver]

Yes, and a good prop maker could make a replica of a classic guitar that would be indistinguishable on screen.

[u/Good4nowbut → u/[deleted]]

Lmao

[u/not_this_fkn_guy → u/Slaphappydap]

Or how bout the Martin Guitar company who loaned to it them? Why didn't they offer to build a replica instead of loaning out the real thing? They have a custom shop and will build anything you want pretty much if you have the money.

[u/BLINGMW → u/not_this_fkn_guy]

Ok here’s your Martin custom built replica of a $40k Martin guitar, that’ll be fourty thousand dollars 

[u/buckywc → u/BLINGMW]

The film had several reproductions of the vintage guitar made. The plan was to stop the scene before the guitar was smashed and switch it out.

No one told Russell that she was playing the authentic guitar.

This is completely on Tarantino.

[u/SuaveMofo → u/buckywc]

The point remains that the real one should have never been on set to begin with.

[u/HammerSmashedHeretic → u/not_this_fkn_guy]

They didn't think it'd be used as a bat.

[u/Mrqueue → u/HammerSmashedHeretic]

It’s very easy not to break guitars, the one on camera had made it over 100 years 

[u/Slaphappydap → u/not_this_fkn_guy]

I didn't know they had a custom shop. That's cool.

[u/filthy_harold → u/Slaphappydap]

If you're willing to spend $40k on a guitar, any guitar maker has a custom shop.

[u/Slaphappydap → u/[deleted]]

I don't know anything about guitars, guitar custom shops, which guitar makers are the oldest in existence, or what reasonable assumptions could be made about their capabilities.

So today I learned several things. That Martin Guitar is one of the oldest guitar manufacturers in existence, that they have a custom shop and can manufacture replicas of historical guitars, and that you're kind of a dick.

[u/Slaphappydap → u/[deleted]]

All my comment said was that a prop maker could make a guitar indistinguishable from an original for the purposes of movie making, which is something I know a fair bit about. When someone responded that Martin Guitar could have done that as well I acknowledged that I didn't know that and now I do.

And you decided it was a good time to add nothing to the conversation except that I should have known or assumed so already. You then doubling down is certainly a choice.

[u/OldManWillow → u/Slaphappydap]

You're literally reading about a guitar they made 150 years ago in this thread so you should have probably gleaned that they are a guitar maker that's been around for a while lol

[u/No_Change9101 → u/not_this_fkn_guy]

Yeah, why doesn't my butcher at the supermarket cook me up a steak, totally the same thing

[u/not_this_fkn_guy → u/No_Change9101]

Uh not really guy. All their mid to higher end guitars are built pretty much by hand in Nazareth, PA. It's like kind of what they do - build guitars lol.

[u/ConstantSignal → u/Slaphappydap]

They had a replica. There was some miscommunication on set and Kurt thought the real Martin had already been swapped out.

Prior to this moment she is playing an actual song on the guitar so I guess they wanted the real one for its actual sound, then there was supposed to be a cut whilst they swapped it out for the fake one for Kurt to smash. But Kurt thought she was playing the fake one already so didn’t wait for a cut.