Reports are emerging that the director is taking legal action against the site which linked to his leaked screenplay

Quentin Tarantino has filed a copyright lawsuit against Gawker Media for disseminating copies of his latest script, according the The Hollywood Reporter.

A copy of his new script, The Hateful Eight, emerged online last week, much to the director's ire. Tarantino said he was "very, very depressed" about the leak, which he suggested might have been down to the agents of Michael Madsen or Bruce Dern, who had been set for roles in the movie. He then shelved plans to shoot the film.

Over recent days, speculation arose that the leak was in fact a publicity stunt from Tarantino's side, while more details emerged as to the meat of the script, said to be the story of bounty hunters transporting prisoners through 19th-century Wyoming. Gawker's Defamer blog published a post called "Here Is the Leaked Quentin Tarantino Hateful Eight Script" in which they linked to the 146-page screenplay.

Tarantino's suit reads: "Gawker Media has made a business of predatory journalism, violating people's rights to make a buck. This time they went too far. Rather than merely publishing a news story reporting that Plaintiff's screenplay may have been circulating in Hollywood without his permission, Gawker Media crossed the journalistic line by promoting itself to the public as the first source to read the entire Screenplay illegally."

• Blog: Hateful Eight must go on