Kurt Russell to star in Quentin Tarantino's 'Hateful Eight'

LOS ANGELES, July 16 (UPI) -- Kurt Russell confirmed his role in The Hateful Eight earlier this week.

The 63-year-old actor made the announcement Monday on Good Day Philadelphia. Director Quentin Tarantino had previously shelved the project after the script leaked online in January.

"There's a Tarantino project called Hateful Eight that looks like it may go somewhere around the beginning of the year," Russell revealed.

Tarantino admitted to being "very, very depressed" after the leak, but hosted a live reading of the script in April. Russell took part in the event as bounty hunter John Ruth, and the director announced his intent to rework the script after the performance.

He originally envisioned the film as a western about a group of contentious travelers who find themselves trapped in a remote saloon. Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Amber Tamblyn, Bruce Dern, Michael Madson, Walton Goggins, James Parks, Denis Menochet, Dana Gourrier, Zoe Bell and James Remar also took part in the reading.

Russell starred in Tarantino's Death Proof (2007), and will next appear in Fast & Furious 7 and Bone Tomahawk in 2015.