Inglourious Basterds

2009

Character: Lt. Aldo Raine
Release Date: August 21, 2009
Directed By: Quentin Tarantino
Written By: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/War
Tagline: -
MPAA Rating: -
Produced by: Lawrence Bender Productions, Universal Pictures, The Weinstein Company
Distributed by: Universal Pictures, The Weinstein Company
Budget: -
Filming Dates: 13 October 2008 -

Cast:
…Brad Pitt…Lt. Aldo Raine
…Diane Kruger…Bridget von Hammersmark
…Mike Myers…General Ed Fenech
…B.J. Novak…PFC Utivich
…Samm Levine…PFC Hirschberg
…Eli Roth…Sgt. Donnie Donowitz
…Til Schweiger…German Soldier
…Michael Fassbender…Lt. Archie Hicox
…Paul Rust…Andy
…Mélanie Laurent…Shoshanna Dreyfus
…Christoph Waltz…Col. Hans Landa
…Ludger Pistor…Wolfgang
…Jacky Ido…Marcel

Filming Locations:
Bad Schandau, Saxony, Germany
Berlin, Germany
Elbe Sandstone Mountains, Saxony, Germany
Görlitz, Saxony, Germany
Nauen, Brandenburg, Germany
Paris, France
Sebnitz, Saxony, Germany
Studio Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Synopsis:
During World War II a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as “The Basterds” are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

Trivia & Facts:
• In 2005, Quentin Tarantino was quoted as saying that he had written the script, a World War II story, but that he needed to convert it to a shooting script. He said that writing the script and preparing a shooting script were “two different things”.

• Quentin Tarantino started writing this movie before Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) but could not decide on a good ending and decide to put it on hold to do Kill Bill with Uma Thurman, a project he had been mentally preparing since Pulp Fiction (1994).

• When Quentin Tarantino wrote the screenplay, he wanted to have Mickey Rourke in the film to get Rourke back in the business again. But then Robert Rodriguez used him for Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) and Sin City (2005) and Tarantino scrapped the idea.

• Quentin Tarantino has said that he intends for this to be as much a war film as a spaghetti western, and has said he would also consider titling the movie “Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France”.

• Quentin Tarantino worked on the script for almost a decade.

• David Krumholtz dropped out due a scheduling conflict and Samm Levine took his place.

• British actor Simon Pegg was originally set to play Lt. Archie Hicox but was forced to pull out of the project because of scheduling conflicts. Michael Fassbender replaced him.

• Tarantino approached Adam Sandler to play one of the Jewish soldiers. But Sandler had to turn it down because the schedule conflicted with the filming of Funny People (2009).

• The role of Francesca Mondino was written especially for Julie Dreyfus, who played a similar character
in Quentin’s previous movie, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003).

• Nastassja Kinski was in talks for the role of Bridget Von Hammersmark; Tarantino even flew to Germany to meet the actress, but a deal wasn’t reached.

• The name of Brad Pitt’s character, Lt. Aldo Raine, is a homage to actor Aldo Ray.

• Eli Roth’s character, Sgt. Donnie Donowitz, is part of the Tarantino-verse, sharing the last name of the film producer character, Lee Donowitz, in the Tarantino-written True Romance (1993). The Lee Donowitz character also produced a war film “Comin’ Home in a Body Bag”.

• Isabelle Huppert was the first choice for Madame Mimieux. But the actress’ behavior (too ‘divistic’) apparently irritated Quentin Tarantino so he replaced her with screen siren Maggie Cheung.

• Michael Madsen was originally announced to star as a character named Babe Buchinsky.

• Tim Roth was in talks with Tarantino to play Donnie Donowitz.

• Tarantino originally wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play Hans Landa but decided that a German-speaking actor should play the role.

• According to Eddie Murphy, he was in talks with Tarantino for a role in the film.

• The scar on Aldo Raine’s neck will not be mentioned throughout the film. However, it hints that Aldo survived lynching, a common punishment in the early 1900′s.

• Despite being Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino’s first time working together, Brad had co-starred in True Romance (1993) (which was written by Tarantino).

• The name of Mike Myers’ character is a homage to actress Edwige Fenech.

From the gallery

Quotes
Lt. Aldo Raine: Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps… and I want my
scalps!

Lt. Aldo Raine: My name is Lt. Aldo Raine and I need me eight soldiers. We’re gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. We’re gonna be doing one thing and one thing only… killing Nazis. Members of nationalist socialist party conquered Europe to murder, torture, intimation, and terror. And that’s exactly what we’re gonna do to them. We will be cruel to the Germans and through our cruelty they will know who we are. They will find the evidence of our cruelty in the disemboweled, dismembered, disfigured bodies their brothers we leave behind us and the Germans will not be able to help themselves from imagining the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, at our boot heels, and the edge of our knives. And the Germans will be sickened by us, the Germans will talk about us and the Germans will fear us. Nazis ain’t got no humanity! They need to be destroyed. Each and every man under my command owns me one hundred Nazi scalps… and I want my scalps!

External Links
…Official website
…IMDB