Tarantino goes to war

By Victoria Lindrea Entertainment reporter, BBC News

Johnny Depp is on Tarantino's hit list of future collaborators

Director Quentin Tarantino discusses fame, violence and Brad Pitt, ahead of the release of his latest film Inglourious Basterds.

Written and directed by the Reservoir Dogs film-maker, the fantastical plot follows a group of Jewish American soldiers on a mission to kill Nazis and ultimately bring down the Third Reich.

Meanwhile a Parisian cinema owner, whose family died at the hands of a Nazi colonel, plots revenge of her own.

Filmed in a variety of languages, it stars Hollywood Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth and Michael Fassbender.

It was kind of a love affair.

He loved the character of Aldo Raine so much that he stayed in character whenever he was on set. If I wanted to talk to Brad - in Brad's voice - then I had to go into his trailer when he was getting made up.

Once he was on set, he kept the dialect going - everything had an Aldo perspective. As the person who created Aldo, it was wonderful to hang out with your own creation all day!

Revenge isn't usually an element of World War II films - there may be a hint of it, but it's not usually what they are about. I think that's what makes this movie rather unique.

It's the fun of the Jews getting revenge against Nazis - I've seen the other story ad nauseum.

I will never feel squeamish about my own movies, because I know them and I know how we achieved the effects.

But I do squirm in movies - I like squirming. The last one I saw that really did that to me was The Wrestler, when Mickey Rourke fights that crazy hillbilly guy and they are crashing into barbed wire. That was excruciating.

As for the scalping - those guys are already dead, it's about taking mementoes.

Even though it's unconventional wisdom, I believe that it will make the film resonate. In fact, I think it's one of the aspects that is going to make the film commercial.

I think the other style - with everybody either speaking English, or Germans speaking English with a German accent - those are the things that made World War II movies for the last couple of generations old-fashioned.

American audiences are used to movies where the Royal Shakespearian Academy [sic] was apparently running the Third Reich!

But now you can't imagine watching an Iraqi war movie where the Iraqis are speaking English, it just doesn't compute. Those are your father's war movies.

"If it had an on and off switch it would be the greatest thing in the world, but unfortunately it doesn't work like that.

But yes, I do like being a known artist that has fans and a following - and that I don't need an actor to get my movies made.

I'm enough to get my movies made - that's a very privileged position to be in."

It might be megalomania or hubris on my part, but I am egotistical enough to think that people might see my movies more than once.

I actually hope that during its general release, people might like it enough to see it two or three times...

Then there is the rest of your life - I hope you like it enough that you revisit it over the years and introduce it to friends.

Inglourious Basterds opens in the UK on 19 August.

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