A new, less torture-porny/Dimension films-like poster of Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” has hit the web (via the Sun) and this time it features actually members of the cast.
Perhaps we can call the old ones posters — that featured the butt end of a rifle dripping with blood and the words, “inglourious basterds” carved into it, a bloody baseball bat and a knife ripped through a German Nazi flag — as simply teaser posters and in that context, we suppose they work and did the job (even if they were coarse and kind of antithetical to the film).
This poster — not totally unlike the original “Inglorious Bastards” poster — features the principals and “stars” outfront, Brad Pitt, Eli Roth and, ahem… Til Schweiger with the real leads, Melanie Laurent and Christoph Waltz in the back. Diane Kruger is there as well. The tagline is: “An Inglorious, Uproarious Thrill-Ride of Vengeance,” which we’re not really feeling. “Uproarious”? Ok, if you say so Weinstein company, but then again, like the original trailers earlier this year, this film is being sold as something its completely not: a bloody action picture.
Michael Fassbender actually gets third billing which is odd considering how small his part is and actually isn’t featured on the poster. We won’t complain too much though, TWC is kind of between a rock and a hard place. The leads are Laurent and Waltz, but no one in the U.S. knows who they are. Leading with Brad Pitt is a no brainer, but Diane Kruger is a name, is strong in the film and is featured fairly prominently, so it might not have been a bad idea to put her further up in front, but then you lose the design aesthetic of three basterds leading the charge — damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Maybe a larger version will look more impressive.
This new poster is an English version of an Italian ‘Basterds’ poster that has been making the rounds (this one is far bigger if you want a peak). The film is set to hit theaters on August 21. We assume sometime between now and then a new trailer will hit to create more buzz.
Also, if you’re wondering why some of the more relatively well-known American Basterds like Samm Levine or B.J. Novack aren’t on the poster the answer is easy: they’re barely in the picture. Same goes for the almost non-existent Paul Rust and Michael Bacall. Even the mostly unknown Omar Doom gets far more screentime.