Subject: Quentin Tarantino drops Hateful Eight project after 'leak'

Oscar-winning director Quentin Tarantino has dropped his latest project, a Western called The Hateful Eight, after it apparently leaked out to Hollywood agents.

The filmmaker said he learned of the leak when his office started getting calls from agents pitching their acting clients for roles.

Speaking to film website Deadline, Tarantino said he only "gave it to six people".

He added he was "very, very depressed."

Tarantino, who won best original screenplay at last year's Oscars for Django Unchained, said: "I finished a script, a first draft, and I didn't mean to shoot it until next winter, a year from now."

The 50-year-old said he now plans to publish the script as a book and revisit the prospect of a movie after a few years.

The director told Deadline that he had given the script to three actors, including Tim Roth, who appeared in his first two films, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

"The one I know didn't do this is Tim Roth," he said. "One of the others let their agent read it, and that agent has now passed it on to everyone in Hollywood."

Tarantino himself initially announced the project in November last year to US chat show host Jay Leno.

He has now said: "I'll publish it. I'm done. I'll move on to the next thing" but said he "could totally change my mind".

"If the muse calls me later to do it, we'll do it," he added.

Django Unchained was Tarantino's biggest ever box-office hit, earning $425m (£258m) worldwide and nominated for five Oscars.