Kurt Russell Looks More Awesome Than Ever In New 'Hateful Eight' Images

Quentin Tarantino's new film The Hateful Eight sounds in many ways like a return to his roots: it's nearly a closed-room argument, with an ensemble cast battling out their differences in, if Tarantino's reputation is anything to go by, increasingly violent ways. That ensemble cast is perhaps better than ever, with Tim Roth providing a link to Tarantino's debut Reservoir Dogs, and Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, with a small turn from Channing Tatum.

And then there's Kurt Russell, who looks more awesome than ever in this role — and that's saying a lot, considering his history. See him and just about everyone else in new Hateful Eight images below.

EW has the images, and a great quote from Jennifer Jason Leigh, who describes her relationship with Kurt Russell's bounty hunter "essentially the most dysfunctional couple since Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

First up, here are the eight of the title:

And then there are some behind the scenes shots, and a couple other images. The landscape shot is concept art. The shot of Kurt Russell in mid-hoot (or whatever it is he's doing) is easily the best.

We should see The Hateful Eight later this year.

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 (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as "The Hangman," will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (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 (Bichir), who's taking care of Minnie's while she's visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all...