The trailer for “Inglourious Basterds” obviously went online last week and the Interweb went into a feeding frenzy. We already posted a story about Quentin Tarantino, discussing the Apache-like scalping-happy soldiers of the film and his actors to Empire magazine. Not many publications have had a chance to talk to the director about the film in recent months, because he’s been busy shooting the picture (which has now moved on to the editing stage officially), but it seems like Empire talked to him at length cause they have even more.
Those Pesky Old School Casting Rumors: Sly and Arnold Were Never Considered
Never underestimate the lifespan of a rumor. Even thought the director debunked almost all the casting rumors about the film (Bruce Willis was one) as far back as 2005, Empire still had to ask him about rumored actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sly Stallone. “I never threw any of those names around, alright!!” Tarantino yelled in exasperation.
Tarantino Didn’t Write For Many Actors In Mind This Time.
Back in 2005, Tarantino said the only actor he had considered was Michael Madsen. Presumably for the role of Donnie “the Bear Jew” Donowitz which makes sense because back then he said he had only ever thought of two Basterd characters. “There was always Donnie, and there was always Aldo,” he says. “But after that, I had to come up with some more characters. After Donnie and Aldo, I wrote those characters and then I auditioned for them.”
On Daniel Brühl’s Fredrick Zoller Character:
“He’s a little bit based on Audie Murphy [an American GI who became a Western star after a biopic was made of his wartime heroism]. And just like Audie Murphy, he’s about to become a movie star.”
Why The Title Is Mispelled
I can’t tell you!” says Tarantino mysteriously. “But the ‘Basterds’? That’s just the way you say it: Basterds.”
5 Chapters and 5 Different Looks
“Each chapter in this movie has a vaguely different look, and a different feel, and the tone is different in all of them. The opening chapter truly feels like a spaghetti western, but with World War Two iconography.”
Reminder, Shosanna (Melanie Laurent) Is The Lead Character, Not Brad Pitt:
“Shosanna was always a main character,” says Tarantino. “One of the biggest changes in my conception of it from way back when until now – in fact, hands down the biggest thing – is that, in the original version of this script, Shosanna was more of a kind of movie character. She was badass. But the thing about that was, I did that with The Bride in Kill Bill. So I started making her more like a real girl in this situation.” [ed. we’re glad to hear he dialed her down and hope the film is more realistic than “movie”-like]
The French Bar Scene Is The Money Sequence In The Film
“The La Louisiane scene is like a reduced Reservoir Dogs,” says QT, “but with Nazis and in German. It’s a 23-minute scene, and instead of that warehouse they’re in a little basement bar. La Louisiane is a huuuuge deal, I think the biggest deal I’ve ever done, in any of my movies. I always said that once we’d done the La Louisiane, then… everything else won’t exactly be easy, but it will appear easy after La Louisiane. And we’ll be able to do a great climax because we’ve done the La Louisiane.”
Less Campy, More Realistic, But Still Violent?
“Watchin’ Donny beat Nazis to death is the closest we ever get to goin’ to the movies.” he said. “[But] If you think the script’s violent, then you’ll think the movie’s violent.”
Hitler’s Scenes Were Written Long Ago
“I always knew I would have Hitler in it. I always knew Hitler would be a character. That was one of the first things I wrote. The Hitler stuff I wrote a long, long, long time ago. But I enjoyed writing Hitler. It was a lot of fun.”
[Empire]