In less than nine months we’ll all get to see Quentin Tarantino’s hotly anticipated new movie The Hateful Eight and in a recent interview with Grantland, The Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen admits that he was once up for a role in the western but that he had to say no due to scheduling conflicts.

Mortensen – who had previously read alongside Harvey Keitel for a part in Tarantino’s inaugural feature film Reservoir Dogs – claims that he met with the director last year to begin negotiations but that it didn’t work out.

“Yeah, we did meet. … [Tarantino] wanted to start shooting at the end of the year and do rehearsals before that, and I just couldn’t do that schedule-wise. That’s the only reason [I passed on the project],”

It was heavily rumoured last year that Tarantino was considering Mortensen for a lead role but this is the first time Viggo has spoken about it. Jennifer Lawrence was also rumoured to be up for a part but in a similar situation she couldn’t commit to the role.

Mortensen continued, “I wish [The Hateful Eight] would have worked out, but that’s what I’m talking about — you either see these films through to the end or you don’t…It would have been really, really fun to work with [Tarantino]. I think he’s really smart and funny.”

Mortensen’s schedule was too busy due to the filming – and co-producing – of his next film Jauja which tells the story of a father and daughter’s journey from Denmark to an unknown desert that exists in a realm beyond the confines of civilisation.

The Hateful Eight is released on November 13th.

Gavin Logan – Follow me on Twitter