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Melanie Laurent – (as Shosanna in Quentin Tarantino’s latest, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS)

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Melanie:  Hi.

Q:  [INAUDIBLE QUESTION:] ….the musical theme, which Tarantino’s films with music…yeah…

[Laughs, inaudible dialogue]

Melanie:  Let’s have a dance right now!

Q:  What was it like setting that whole shot up and being in that? Did you get to play the music while you were in it?

Melanie:  Yeah. He would just bring all of the crew on the set this morning—that morning—not this morning. And he just said, “Ok! We’re going to do that!” And it took two days to do the Shosanna scene where she gets prepared for the party, and—“I’m gonna film her like this and like this and—oh! You know what? Can we have the music?!” And we have the music! [He’d] explain to everybody what’s going on. Then, next to that, I was (gasps)—is that for me?! I like that! “And like this! And a close up of that! And this and this!” But it’s a good example just to explain to you how he’s working—like—like a captain at [she indicated the press roundtable] a very huge table!

[Laughs]

Melanie:  Um—he’s a captain on a boat. So it’s like—“Ok! Today we are going to do that!” And everybody’s like: “Yes sir!”

Q:  What kind of demands did Quentin make upon your performance prior to shooting?

Melanie:  I don’t know. Erm—we didn’t work like this. We just—with me. I don’t know with the others. But he said, ok, “Give me one take. And maybe two. And after that I’m going to fix here and here.” Sometimes like that. And so: “Ok!” and sometimes: “Cut!” He just come to me and say, and whisper me one word. And you like: “Oh my god! Oh yeah! Ok! We’ll do that!” Change all the scene in one take. It just take one word. It’s so clear, so precise. It’s an amazing director for the actor. He’s really respectful and he loves actors. So he just understands how it can be difficult sometimes. But you know what, when you have that sort of mis en scene, it’s kind of easy to play, because you have everything around you. So it’s just—you know—for example the lunch with Landa. I’m here, company of German, German, German, German—they just speak German German German—and I’m—I don’t understand a word. And I’m like this [she shrugs] and suddenly, I just heard a voice. [She gasps]! And after that, I have a hand on my shoulder. And after that, I have the face of Landa. Ok, then shoot!

[Laughs]

Melanie:  You know? And, “Ok! You’re tense! He’s just here, in front of you! And you’re like, Oh my god! He’s here!” You know. It’s just like—duh na na na! You have amazing music at the moment. The light is great. The action is so great. You just have to be concentrated, you don’t really have to even work for details. Because he’s [Quentin] the details, and he—you have everything on the pages—on the script!

Q:  What’s striking to me is—you just said it—less is more. But when you watch a film like this, when you watch any of Tarantino’s films, you think it’s completely opposite: he’s going over the top, he’s throwing all this in, but yet you’re saying that he achieves this with a sense of simplicity?

Melanie:  But you know what, maybe it’s with me. Because—for example, Landa: it was, I think—Did you have Christopher already?

Q:  No.

Melanie:  Well, you’ve got to ask him, because he had a lot of more text, and it was more difficult because he has to have different languages and just find the right smile, the right humor, at the right moment, be really funny, or completely scary, so it’s like, um—I think he wanted Shosanna very strong, very fragile at the same time, but not over the top. So, it’s not so, you know—except for my crazy laugh at the end—

[Laughs]

Melanie:  I did not know how to do that for the life of me. For months, I was like, (gasp) “How am I going to do that?” Because in the script it was like, “She’s laughing like the evil, during 5 minutes.”  I’m like—“What? What? During 5 minutes? I’m gonna be like—huh ha ha ha ha ha ha  ha hunh ha ha—it’s gonna be a nightmare!” And I remember that day, I was like, “Ok Quentin, you know what, I’m so stressed out. I really don’t know what I’m going to do. ‘Cause I never took some theater lessons, for example. I just made movies. So I have very—and I’m French. We are lazy! You don’t work on that laughter in 6 months. You just like, “Oh my god, it’s tomorrow! My laugh is tomorrow!” You know? Well maybe, just for me. So, and I was like, oh my god, how am I going to do that. And so I said, “I’m stressed out! Because it’s so important. Ok I’m stressed out more now.” So he says, “Ok, ok. You know what. I’m gonna fire everybody!” So he just asked people to get out. And I was like, oh my god, is this a sick scene? Because usually when—“Can I have the script please?! I just want to check something!” And he was like, “Ok. We are 5 here.” In a huge set. You can imagine. It was funny because the set was like—in the stairs—but in the very corner on a huge, huge set. So we were just 5 people, just for the camera and me, and and he said—and he took my hand and he said, “You know what? I just trust you. You’re gonna be great. You’re gonna give me a great evil laugh.” “Ok! [She clears throat] Action!” And I just did something. You know. First day. And he was like, “Ok. You can do it. Ok, let’s work.” He just wanted to know if I could just forget everything. And it remembers me a little bit of like the scene in Kill Bill 2, where she just finally goes—find Bill. And she’s on a car, and she’s like front of camera, black and white, and she says, “And I’m gonna Kill Bill!” And we’re like, ok, why are you saying like this. And it’s because, it’s completely unreal. And at the end you just love that sort of scene. Because it’s just completely creative. And on your imaginary end—it’s just like—and he’s so stressed out for you—because he knows it’s going to be hard to find the right way to say it, but at the end he just—here—takes your hand and say “You know what, I trust you.” And you’re like, “Ok cool! You are the only one.

Q:  Are you bummed that your character didn’t get to see Hitler shot and killed?

Melanie:  I’m sorry– ??

Melanie Laurent as Shosanna in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Q:  Because your character died before everything really happened, like the fire and everything. Were you upset that your character didn’t get to be a part of that?

Melanie:  No. I’m fine. Especially with that smokey effect of the face. I’m pretty fine with that end. And—no, and I was really really surprised when I saw the movie, when I discovered he put on some really romantic and mood music for my dying moment. I was like, Oh my god, it’s not really Quentin. You know, usually he— RAHRAHRAHRAH! I was like oh my god.

Q:  Did you realize it when you were making it: You’re really the heart of the film? You’re kind of the center piece of everything, because you’re the one that suffered in the beginning. You’re the one that runs the cinema. You’re the cinephile too. You kind of cover every aspect of this film. And you’re also seeking revenge like the Basterds. Every time we come to you, and you have the most emotion really in the movie. Did you feel pressure in carrying that? Or did you notice that when you finally saw the end product that you really were the—kind of part of the—

Melanie:  Well—when you’re just hearing it in front of Brad Pitt and producers and Quentin and everybody and your friends and you’re 26 and it’s your first movie and you don’t speak English and you’re going to spend 4 months here with this creative—and it’s just huge—and the translation in French is very difficult because it’s like period style, and so yeah—it was a lot of pressure. But I didn’t want to leave that like this, because if I did, I would, “ok, I’m just going to be stressed out every day. So he trusts me, ok. I’m going to trust that. And I’m going to try to just relax and have fun.” Cause when I see the movie, I don’t know about for you, but it just 2 hours of funny funny funny moment. You scream, I remember my gut: “Oh my god, oh my god! Ha ha ha! Oh my god!” for 2 hours! You’re just exhausted at the end of that movie. But, it’s like, your life, and it’s funny so. And it’s just so great on the set. We just had that dance every day, and that sort of line like—wee! “I want another take!” “Why?” “Because we love making mooo-vieeees!” And you just hear 100 people saying that every day. And, you like, “Oh ok. I’m going to have fun. I don’t want to think about the pressure of, ok it’s a huge part.” And he cut a lot of my part. When she first gets to the cinema—Maggie Chong??? And the movie was too long, so you had to make some choices. So the part was more big than you saw on the screen, but yeah—I was just away with the fairies most of the time, and just had fun, and and Christoph—I just love that guy. He’s amazing. He’s so sweet, and perfect. Daniel Bruhl—he’s so professional, such a great actor. So we just had—not fun every day, but just—wow! I’m just playing with great actors. So it was sometimes, hard because—you know what? No. It was not hard. It was just great. And it’s very rare. Because most of the people in that world want to do that job. Want to be actors. Why? Because they think we have fun, because they think we have lots of money, because everyday at 5 o’clock we’re like, “Hey! Let’s do that! That’ll be fun!” But most of the time it’s really not like this. You wake up at 5 and you’re just—want to stay in your bed—with  a mystical director, and he’s just yelling at you, and yehhhhhhhhhhhh!– “I don’t under…” and sorry, but it’s not clear. You can scream a lot if you want, but—and at the end of that four month experience you discover the movie and it’s crap! You know? But sometimes it’s like this, but most of the time you don’t make movies with Quentin Tarantino. You know? So when you just have that amazing opportunity—when you are the most lucky French actress ever at that moment, you just have fun. You just enjoy it. I just forgot how lucky I am to do that job.

Q:  How did you get to be part of this project?

Melanie:  Oh very classical casting. I had three rounds, reading with him, reading with Daniel Bruhl at the end, that was the third one. But um—yeah. I just made like four movies in France just before Quentin’s movie, and after a while, it’s just like kind of a jobj like, ok, you just wake up at 5 every day, and you don’t really know why, and you just—you’re just so inspired. I just forgot that—being actress, it’s so funny and great—and with him—yeah, hysterical at 5 o’clock. I was waiting that moment. I was waiting my alarm clock. I was like, “OK! It’s 5! Ok! Let’s go!” And I remember, the last—almost the last day, I was crying in his arms, and I said, “It’s almost done! How am I going to do?” You know? …And I did another movie and it was great.

[Laughs]

Q:  Working with Quentin, did it inspire you to want direct more? I know you directed a short film that played at Cannes.

Melanie:  Yeah. I’m going to make my movie next summer in France, and yeah—you’re right—because it was not about just actors, it was about everything. It was about—ok! He’s the most passionate person I’ve ever met. He’s crazy. Perhaps too much sometimes, but he just love making movies!

Q:  Was there advice he gave you on making movies?

Melanie:  Yeah! I’m going to stole him a lot. About utmost fear on the set, about—you know, you can just accept  a lot of things from a director who just love making movies. When you are an asshole, and plus your movie is just not good, and plus! You don’t know how to speak to your crew, and plus! You don’t really like actors—I’m completely upset against all that directors who said that, “Oh the shooting part is just not my favorite.” Excuse me?! “Yeah, I like editing or writing. So I’m alone and…” Oh ok. You want to work with 100 people now!?! Ok what happens? You know? And I met a lot of you directors who said, oh it was a nightmare! Oh yeah? Was the nightmare really that bad? Ok. Why are you a director? Just to know? And for a lot of people, it’s just like painful and hard—so I don’t know, maybe. Maybe when I’m making little baby movies, I think it’s just amazing. The moment I’m writing, the moment I’m on the set, the moment I’m just direct my actors, the moment I’m just talking with the sound with the camera with the costumes. Blue green yellow! Ok, that that that! It’s just amazing! I’m not going to be actress all my life. I’m going to be director, because that is the best job ever. You are the boss! And you can make everything just great, not like—you don’t have to be an asshole to make great movies. They don’t know that. Most other people in that work. So yeah.

So I was a little bit tired about that—that not funny way to make movies. And he just, yeah, and after that, my life is quite crazy and funny. But I met—Damien Rice just after that. You know Damien Rice? I was just completely crazy about him. Like he is the best singer ever for me. And I met that guy, just after Tarantino. It’s so crazy. Like, “Oh! What I’m going to do without you!” “Ohp! I met Damien Rice! Sorry!” [She pantomimes scooting closer to her next greatest thing!] I was like—Masters! It’s funny to have just met two masters. They’re very different, because it’s music and it’s cinema, but I was like, “I’m so fucking lucky!” And so we are working on my CD right now. And I’m just like—he just explain me how the word “working”—like, ok “You wanna be a singer? Ok, so work!” Ok yeah. So you go in the bathroom, I lock the door, and you work two hours. Ok. Good. “Make some piano! Just go to work! Listen the birds! Caress a tree, be with the nature, and just be inspired!” And I just forgot that, you know sometime you just work, you work you work, and you have no life, no boyfriend, you have no more friends, you no more nothing, you just make movies, and you’re tired, and you don’t know why. Because everybody said, oh you are so lucky, you are working! And you’re like, oh yeah, oh yeah, it’s so great. And suddenly, I just—and I’m sure it’s kind of a sign—I’m not mystic at all but—I was like, “Oh, I met that master of making movies! And I met that master of making CDs, and I worked with those two guys!” And the common point is inspiration, and make that job with passion, and that’s all. And it’s so great, because I just have a new life now. I enjoy everything. Even after that moment, and I’m in jet lag!

Q:  It seems like—you’re going into all these different fields, and you’re just completely fearless. Is it like—do you have any fears, or are you just ready to take on whatever comes next and follow your dreams in a way?

Melanie:  Yeah. Know what, I’m so—I’m really confident, because the most great thing ever: I had a perfect childhood. I had perfect parents and grandparents. They just love me, simply. So I have no fears. I’m really sensitive—because (gasp, tear) I don’t know why people are so cruel or violent or something. I like to be [carefree and childish in a sing-song voice:] “Oh, this is the world!” But yeah, so I have lots of confidence. And I just realized that that job is completely absurd, it’s not life. So, I just want to take care of that. Ok: That’s not life. That’s not real. This is not real. I’m 26, and I’m in a poster with Brad Pitt. That’s not really Real. But it’s my life now, and I just want to take time, and go to Ireland, and make my music. And I’m so glad to see Quentin, and to dance with him and talk about movies and just protect myself. And you can—[escort arrives] No I don’t want to go!

Ok I have to go! So, be inspired and life is great! Completely mystic I know. Thank you! Bye!

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Eli Roth (as Danny Donowitz, the Bear Jew, in Quentin Tarantino’s new film, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS)

Q: How honored were you when you read in the script that you were going to be the man that would blow away Hitler?

ROTH: It was an incredible honor and certainly an honor that I took very seriously. That was actually not originally in the script. That was something that came about as we were shooting. So it was actually it was even more of an honor, in fact. As we were shooting, Quentin adapts to what he likes as things are going on. He was so happy with what I was doing as “The Bear Jew” and seeing me were beating react(?) men. He just loved the scene where I was kicking ass. And then I shot Nation’s Pride, the film within the film and Quentin, I figured realized that, wait a minute Eli is shooting all the action stuff in the film. We fired so many thousand of bullets in two days making Nation’s Pride. I was like, dude we have machine guns, and 30 guys firing and he was like wait a minute we got a machine gun and he over Christmas he rewrote it. He’s like were making a little change, and I read it and it was like Donny kicks open the door and shoots Hitler in the face and I am like…woo hoo. I was so happy. I was like it it’s amazing. I’m going to be, you know, the new Moses. But I have to say, as much as a thrill it is to watch, it was really far more difficult than I even anticipated shooting the scenes. Shooting the comedy scenes, the Margheriti that stuff was fun, that was, we had a blast doing that, it just turned into a Marx Brothers movie. We shot some ridiculous sill stuff busting bad Italian. But I know when I’m filming a scene in Hostel and I’m chopping up body parts and cutting out eyes, as the scene progresses I’m getting happier and happier. Because I have this jigsaw puzzle that’s kind of empty in my head, and I know OK I’ll look eye goo ran perfectly and it’s going to work. And I’m just picturing the audience screaming, but when I have to do that scene where I beat the guy’s head in. I was like, it was one thing I mean I lifted weights and put on almost 40 pounds of muscle. I was like the guy has to look physically imposing when he comes out of the cave. That’s one thing, but what’s going to make it work is the look in his face and the look in his eyes. This guy has to look possessed, he has look tortured and tormented that all he thinks about is beating Nazis to death. So to do that you have to really dredge up, the most painful, think of your worst breakup, your worst fight, the most horrible death and like make it feel like it happened 15 minutes ago. So I was working myself up into this state, and the state and after you film a scene like that even though scene’s fake. And when everyone is like, “OK, it’s a wrap. Let’s got for drinks” like you just want to crawl into a hole and die. Cause you like, you are gaaaawddd. And I talk to the actors, I was, it was exhausting and draining in a way I could’ve never anticipated. So even the scene where were shooting Hitler, it’s weird because I’m friends with all the people on the crew and because I shot and I’ve been on the crew set shooting Nation’s Pride stuff so I remember the day when I was going to do this scene where wiping out the high command and everyone is like, “G-d, what’s with Eli? Are you alright?” And I’m like I’m going to kill Hitler. Do you mind? Leave me alone. I’m trying to work myself up. And people would be like, stop, what’s up? Wait, wait. The guy’s in a really bad mood. It’s like it’s acting you guys, I’m allowed to act also. So it was hard but that scene, we almost got killed. That scene Quentin doesn’t like to use CGI, and he wants everything to be authentic. So he had this fire and they had done numerous tests with the fire. There was a special set where they rebuilt the theater with this controlled fire. Well the fire they estimated, it was going to burn, they did temperature readings, it was going to get up 400 degrees centigrade. And the flags caught fire, they’ve never burned all the stuff, and they never tested with all the stuff and all the props, all the flags caught fire and it will never get closer that this. And the fire was, it got up to 1,200 degrees centigrade, which is 2,000 Fahrenheit. And you see me on camera, ugh, and I got singed and we had on flame retardant clothing under our costumes and covered in fire gel and there were two people in fire suits with extinguishers below us. And then Quentin on a crane in a fire suit, but he had me and Omar firing machine guns, our hands just start burning. It was 2.000 digress. It was horrible. I never experienced pain like that. And I’d never been in a fire, I had no frame of reference what that was like. And after, finally, I had done so many thousands of crip reloads and weapons changing that I was like on a adrenaline kicked in and I was like on autopilot and just like possessed and just shooting, we’ve got to do this. Like if we die doing this shot, we have to do this. And finally they yell cut and they went and we just. I remember we went down and there was a playback in a tent. Which was rare, we almost never have playback and I watched the shot. And I just watched the shot and poof. I passed out and when I woke up, I had like ice all over me and aloe. It was zero degrees out and we’re in this tent with our arms in these buckets of ice and rags and Quentin said he looked over and said, “that was bad as bad he’s ever felt.” I was happy, and now if any actor complains on any of my set, I’ll be like, well, I don’t know what to tell you cause I was in a 2,000 degree fire. You know what the shot looked great, that’s all that matters.

Q:  How many times did you have to film the scene with the baseball bat where you’re beating this guy to death? How many times did you do that?

ROTH: We did it a number of times. We shot the scene over, the whole scene we spent I think 5 or 6 days shooting it.  And it was the first thing we shot so Quentin was like, I was back in this cave just working myself up, like ready to kill and Quentin would be like, “And that’s a cut. Let’s wrap for the day.” I was like ugh and then Brad would be like, “easy tiger, easy tiger.” And I asked them to put up a pull-up bar and a punching bag so I could stay loose. I didn’t want to be like I pulled a muscle, I didn’t want to be like that. So for days I was like woosh woosh woosh woosh just working myself up and then Quentin would be like “That’s a wrap.” So we never get to it and I worked myself up to like tears and then never get to shoot it. I was like Quentin your blue balling me every day, but he’d do it on purpose. Finally we got to the scene and I was like ready and I was just ready to explode. And I just unloaded on the guy, and it was it was great to finally beat him and just to get it out and do it over and over and over and over. And I just completely blew out my voice and then we had to film the reactions of the guys, cheering me on. And we already got shots of me doing this today, but when it came time to me beating him again, they were excited. But Quentin was like, “you know how you guys got to be loving this and they gotta to be laughing.” So I just started fucking the dummy, and like 69ing it, like skull fucking it. And Brad is like noooooo, until you see Til Schweiger with the biggest smile on his face and that was like me skull fucking the dummy. So that’s what I was willing to do for my fellow Basterds. It’s this crazy thing where you’re like back there, I didn’t want to be to actory and try to get all emotional but I was listening to Heavy Metal, listen to all this music to psych myself up to kill, like Iron Maiden, Misfits and Guns N’ Roses, Dead Kennedys, punk rock and then my girlfriend at the time had put Hannah Montana as a joke on my Mac and I was like duh do duh, Everybody Makes Mistakes. I was like ‘What the fuck is this?” I was like fucking singing Hannah Montana and then I was like, and what if like Brad Pitt came back and was like, “What the fuck are you listening to?” And what if Quentin was like, “What are you doing? You’re listening to Hannah Montana?“ You see me beating this guy and what the hell is wrong with you and I just thought, Oh Gawd, what if I get caught listening to Hannah Montana? I had total Hannah Montana-ching. Now she put this on as a joke, but now I’m kind of enjoying it. Now I’m secretly embarrassed about that and that just made me go crazy, so if I really wanted to instantly go to my psycho place, I would just put on Hannah Montana. I thought what if I was at a concert and I had a bat like would I just go nuts and start whipping the place out. Then what if I was Hannah Montana, how would pull that off? I didn’t even look like I’m in college, let alone high school. But would I be a teacher who is also a pop star? Oh yeah we got to film scene and Quentin’s like, “Man. you’re so intense. you’re so in the zone.” And I’m thinking what if I was Hannah Montana. You never know what tales you to a place of insanity.

Q: We all hear about costuming can help you get you into character. Just how does that fact that he wields a bloody baseball bat as opposed to a knife or gun, how did that help you get into this guy’s mindset, the character?

ROTH: Oh well, I grew up in Boston and let me tell you, you use your baseball bat off the field more than you use it on the field in Boston. I mean everybody had baseball bats in their cars in Boston. That was just a big thing. I remember in high school we were getting drunk on a Wednesday and this kid, this girl’s basement and some kid came down, with his nose broken, this kid Matt Casey. We were seniors and they were juniors and they’re like the juniors fucked up Casey and we’re like kill the juniors. And everybody had bats like within seconds and the juniors showed up to finish the fight and everyone’s like just smashing these kids with like, crushing their car with bats. And I remember was like I was staying back and I was watching and this kid jumped in the car next to me and I was like I can’t believe you did that for Matt Casey and he’s goes, “Whose Matt Casey?” And that exemplified Boston. It was like everybody just wanted an excuse to smash something so when I had that bat I thought of that. And thought of those who are like, “Whose Matt Casey? I don’t give a fuck. I don’t give a fuck, I just want to smash some shit.” So when I had that bat in my hand in Boston where I grew up like that’s what I thought of. Plus being in wool underwear will make you want to kill anything. I mean we were totally period thing. Even if it wasn’t seen, like the socks, the underwear, wool wife beaters, my G-d you can’t imagine what I smelled like, I smelled like a bear. It was disgusting, but the costume, and Quentin’s like, “yeah, you’re getting a cool leather jacket. You’re getting a sawed off shotgun like Mad Max” I was like yeah, I mean cool! So I got there first because I got there first I kind of got to poach all the cool costumes, I was like I want that jacket. I want that gun, I want that and Quentin was like cool, you got here first, you get all the cool stuff. Put Sam Levine in the sweater.

Q: How do you think this experience working on this film, will change your attitude toward acting/directing?

ROTH: Oh well, it’s certainly going to change the way I write scenes. I’d always in Hostel after I did an intense torture scene gave the actors a few days off to recover and rest and you know I’m glad I did that. I can see why you need that. But one thing that is going to change is how I run my set. You know Quentin had a big rule about no cell phones, no computers, no blackberries, nothing on set. We had a guy called Checkpoint Charlie, this charming guy you had to give your phone to. If you phone went off, you were fucked. Quentin was firing people, you’d get cut like your lines, someone else suddenly had your part. Like it was no bullshit. Like, you were there for the movie and if you were doing anything else on set you were out. So everyone, nobody brought their phones, you keep it in your trailer talk during lunch forever. But it gave everyone a certain focus.  And Quentin did not have video playback, so he goes, “I hate this fucking Video Village bullshit. I don’t want everyone at the monitor watching this, watching that, no. You fucking do your job and I’ll watch it from the camera. And if the DP says it fine, it’s fine. I trust him and we’re moving on.” As a result, everyone’s focused. You’re not just sitting around. He would break up the chairs, I was like, “Where’s Video Village?” And he’s like, “A fucking bear came in and shut it down.” And were like Chair Town, what happened to chair? And he’s like, “There’s no more fucking chair town, alright. Chair Town has become too much of a fucking social thing, and I’m here making a movie and your all fucking going to Chair Town everyday. And that’s what we’re here for.” And I’m like he’s right, where are all the chairs? And he like’s no more Chair Town. So I’m like fuck. It was certain things like that kept the focus. Quentin did not have trailer. He’s like, “What I’m fucking going hang out at my trailer for. My job is being on set, I’m making this movie.” And I was really impressed, it just changed. What everyone was like, “How can you make a movie without Video Village? We need our cell phones.” And you realize you don’t need any of it and I was thinking in Cabin Fever we didn’t have any of that stuff. We just moved fast. There were certain things like that, Also when Quentin is directing you, you give your performance and then he turns the camera on and your off camera acting for the actor. Well Quentin I was like man that is where I’d came up with all my good stuff and he was like, “Dude, it doesn’t matter if you’re Robert DeNiro, Sam Jackson, everybody is more relaxed off camera.  Everybody is relaxed off camera. You’re just better. You’re not self conscience and stuff comes out of you that might be too self conscience. You might second guess yourself when you’re off camera” And what he does if there is something he’s off camera, that he likes, he’ll stop, he’ll finish with this actor He will relight and reshoot you. And that what makes Quentin such a great director. Is everybody’s now like on it, fulltime, 100%. Even though they were before, now  he gives you the hope that if you come up with something genius, it’s still going to make it into the movie. Cause Quentin is watching you and watching how the other person responds and as a result everyone’s performance is better. Brad is great off camera, everyone is great off camera. If Quentin if you do get it and there’s time and he likes and he’ll turn the camera on. The best example is when we were doing the introductions, we’re trying to be like and we’re trying to be Italian and Bon Journo. Antonio Margheriti and I went like that (shows finger expression) and then he’s like Tony Decocco and Omar nodded and we filmed a whole day of that. And the next day we were shooting Christoph so were all doing Landa. I’m like really trying out this hand gesture and then Quentin is like, “What if Omar just copies Donny and does that too. I’m sorry. Eli, I know it’s for you.” And I’m like no, no, no, this joke is better not as one, but as a set up for Omar. Now he just realized the whole mission is fucked because these guys had no idea what he’s doing if this guy’s copying Donny then they’re really screwed. And then he just did that, and then Omar just did it exactly like I and that just set up everything about the finale of how fucked these guys were. That’s Quentin, Quentin paying attention to everything and then Quentin stopped and he’s like, “Guys, relight, turn it around and bring in all the background, redress everything behind them. We’re reshooting that.” Because that little hand gesture was so fucking funny and set up the entire last act, so little things like that I never thought. Figured once you get it, you move on. But knowing that if someone does something great, turn the camera on and get it.

Q: Both of you guys are Cinefiles obviously. So like Also Raine is obviously a reference to Aldo Ray (Eli: “And Lt Raine is the character name from Rolling Thunder.)  Did you try to channel iconic WWII for Donny?

ROTH; No, I was channeling people I knew and myself, but its interesting how certain things that you don’t realize that you’re channeling. You know there’s influences that get in there. I wasn’t consciously trying to take from anyone. I wanted to be my own. Something that was close to my own personality or the guys I grew up with and the guys who used to beat the shit out of me. Over Christmas, Quentin and I went to see the Stanley Kubrick film The Killing. And we’re talking how much we loved Timothy Carey in that film, whose in the parking lot who shoots the horse and this is really really creepy weird scene and Quentin showed the movie to Joe Dante and he said, “Eli you’re like Tony Curtis, but with a touch of Timothy Carey.” And I said to Quentin, “Oh my G-d, you realize especially in that theater scene at the end.” Which is the stuff after I seen that film. So without even realizing it, it’s like Joe Dante is a chef. He knows exactly what ingredients went in there. I wasn’t trying to consciously do any of that. But yet it was great, to sort of bring to Brad Pitt down to our level of Grindhouse cinema and cinefelia. The first day, we were talking how much we loved Floyd and how cool it was to Pineapple Express is a whole movie made out of Floyd. How that is become the new Spicoli. My generation gre up on Spicoli as the stoner and now everybody knows Floyd. I love Sean Penn, he’s the greatest. The utmost respect for Spicoli but Floyd is brilliant. And he’s like, “You guys you watch Wonder Pets?” He’s like, “I got kids, that’s what I watch.” He watched Wonder Pets. So Quentin and I got into discussion the first day about Zombie vs. Shark. We’re like of course, you know a Zombie, when a Zombie fights a shark. And Brad’s like, “What are you talking about? He’s like Zombie vs Shark” It’s like Zombie vs. Shark, the Zombie falls off a boat and is walking under water and then a Shark bites him and then the Zombie fights the Shark. Brad’s just looking at us, and Diane Kruger and everyone is like, “What are you talking about?” Quentin and I are, “Dude this is the greatest scene ever.” It’s like low budget so you know it is really a  real Shark. Like how do you put a guy with a real Shark? They did it. It was 1979, there were no rules so they just shot it. Zombie fights a Shark. And then like Jake and these effects guys are like. “Oh yeah, Zombie vs. Shark, I have a T-Shirt Zombie vs. Shark.’ Brad the next day was like, “What this Zombie vs Shark” And then like Quentin got his print of Zombie vs. Shark and we showed it in the reel and Brad’s like this is the greatest movie ever. And then we were in this bar called Tarantino’s and they were showing Hostel and he’s like. “Nice casting, Eli. I gotta see this” And then he came in the next and he’s like, “Man, you bastard, I was alone in my house last night when I watched that thing and it freaked the shit out of me. That was disgusting.” So it was great to take our love of cinema and infect Brad Pitt with it.

Q: Were there any other roles in this movie you were interested in?

ROTH: No, the only role for me was “The Bear Jew.” I was like this is it, to be a Jewish guy from Boston that beats Nazis to death with a baseball bat. I have been training my whole life for that part. There as no other role. That’s what I said to him, “This is it.” I think there are some actors, who feel, no actors in this cast,  but other actors he worked with that felt that they were now that I’ve been in a Tarantino movie I can do anything. But for us, this was endgame. This was it. Like the ultimate dream for all of us to be in a Tarantino movie. And we know there is no such thing as a small part in a Tarantino film. You can be Floyd in True Romance or Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction. Every part is a chance to create a classic cinema moment and everybody is going for it. I felt so lucky. The first table read you look around the room with Christoph Waltz and August Diehl, and all these incredible European actors, Melanie Laurent, you felt G-d this movie is going to be amazing. It’s going to be something so special and so different. It was a thrill to be a part of it.

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Diane Kruger (as Bridget Von Hammersmark, in Quentin Tarantino’s new film INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS)

Q: I think the big question of the day is what was it like to work with Quentin Tarantino and what was the absolute craziest thing he said to you or made you do on-set?

A: (Laughs) What didn’t he asked. Um, well, it is everything you would imagine a Quentin Tarantino movie is like. When you watch his films it’s pretty much what he’s like on-set. You know, he’s a little larger than life. He’s very exuberant, and mad, and manic running around. It is really like a childlike quality to him. He can sit next to the camera and he can get so excited about the scene you’re doing. But at the same time, he can also be incredibly soft-spoken and sensitive. I think what sets him apart from other directors is that he has the ability to sense what a different actor needs for different scenes. And he just knows exactly what to tell you to serve [that scene], to help you open that door.

Q: Did he give you any advice [SOUNDS LIKE] specifically on-set on opening doors?

A: No, that’s not really how it works either. You can’t open a door by saying, ‘Take this way.’ You know? You have to find that door yourself; it’s like going to a psychiatrist, I guess. But sometimes someone will say something to you that makes you think, well, “Oh okay, maybe I’ll do it this way.”

Q: Who were your inspirations for the role?

A: No one in particular. Um, I guess the only character in the movie that could have maybe existed is Bridget von Hammersmark, so it’s a bit of a puzzle of different people… [Quentin] had a lot of actresses that he loved that he wanted me to watch. There was this one actress called Elona [HAVE NO IDEA, SOUNDS LIKE “MASTENS” OR “MASTERS”], she is Hungarian, I think. Of course being German I knew a lot of German actresses of that period. So I really like Hilde Konetzni. So you take a little a bit and then make it your own. But it was pretty much on the page.

Q: We don’t really get much of a backstory on her. We have to take her word for it.

A: Well the truth is I could tell you 20 years of backstory on Bridget von Hammersmark which is what Quentin does, right? He tells you about your character and why and why. Without getting into too much details, because I don’t know if that’s going to be in a prequel or not, but in my head she’s truly come to despise the Nazi regime for whatever reason and truly is trying to use her power, or her influence to get rid of the Third Reich or try to end the war?

Q: What was the casting process like? How was your first meeting with Quentin?

A: Casting with me was not pleasant. [LAUGHS] You know, he had someone in mind when he originally wrote the script so there was never going to be the opportunity to meet with him. And that didn’t work out for whatever reason, so of course, everybody calls and you have to say it’s Diane! And he says, “No, no. I want a German.” Okay, so… you know that was hard. He didn’t believe I was German. He didn’t want someone that was American that had German roots or grandparents. So it took a little while to convince him that I was German. And uh, I guess he was casting in Germany and he didn’t find the person that he was looking for. So it took awhile for him to say, “You can come to Germany if you like and meet with me.” Thanks Quentin! So I flew myself to Berlin. I had two days to prepare thirty pages of dialogue in German and in English. And when we met it the easiest thing in the world. It was obvious, you know, that we liked each other and that we had the same sort of idea about the character. And I think the humor of the character is very important, and so, I think we both saw the same humor.

Q: Did you grow up in Germany and how long did you spend there?

A: I did. Born and raised until I was 15. So German-German.

Q: Why did you decide to come to the States and why did your parents move you?

A: No no, I live in Paris. And I have been living here on and off just because I worked here as a model and I love America. And now I live here half the time.

Q: [QUESTION INAUDIBLE; SOUNDS LIKE:] What is the German film industry like as opposed to the American film industry?

A: It is a big – it’s like the studio system here, you know. It’s sort of like the legend of Germany. Some big movie stars came out of that system just like here. So it was a dream factor that I guess people are responding to.

Q: INAUDIBLE QUESTION.

A: For example, German people really turned on Marlene Dietrich because she left during the war. And they felt she was a traitor leaving them behind, and she was a big star. And that it was quite known that they loved Bridget von Hammersmark because she stayed. She revert her German-ness, I guess.

Q: Was it honor for you to be the foot fetish [INAUDIBLE]….?

A: [LAUGHS] It was funny thing because I guess, I was lazy, I didn’t know about that. And then I was interviewed by a journalist as I just got the job. And he said, “So, ah, have you heard about this?” And I said, no. And he said, “Really, you don’t have a foot scene?” And actually, I do! And he filled me in. And then the day comes and I’m like, “Quentin, are you excited?! It’s the first day!” And he was like, “No, it’s not true. It’s all made up. Journalists made it up.” And I was like, Okay. Six close-ups later on my foot and not on my face, and I thought, maybe there is some truth to it. I don’t know!

Q: It was your foot?

A: Oh yeah. It never looked better, are you kidding? The pedicure lasted forever. [LAUGHS]

Diane Kruger as Bridget Von Hammersmark

Q: How did working on this movie change or affect your attitude on Quentin?

A: The truth is I feel confident. Um, I think that’s what he does. He installs confidence in actors and he has faith in actors. And I feel you can do anything when someone has faith in you. And especially as a woman who works in Hollywood to feel valued, to be given, a dialogue that is intelligent and nuanced, and you’re not just being treated as an accessory to whatever male story is happening in the movie. It makes you – it’s empowering. He empowers women. I think women should be thanking him for the parts he writes for him.

Q: Do you have funny anecdotes about wearing a leg cast?

A: I just think it’s a genius idea when I first saw it, I thought, you’re kidding – it has a heel, really! It was genius but it was not comfortable. But it sure looked good.

Q: Can you tell us a little about finding the tension in your character. As with every other character, she has a larger than life quality to her but she’s grounded in true reality? Can you break that down?

A: It was very important to Quentin. When you watch movies from the ’40’s, acting was very different then. It was a little more formal in how people spoke. And especially for actresses, and there was, you can call it, a commanding presence. They all spoke formal, it’s less conversational-like. Real movie stars, you could really see they were stars. The lighting, the filter, and everything. And it was important when you first see [von Hammersmark] on-screen you immediately know she’s the movie star. And when she speaks nobody else does. And also, it was important you would see that fierce intelligence that Bridget von Hammersmark is. If you doubt she’s just this ditzy movie star, you’d never believe she was able to pull off this Operation [Mission], you know, it was her idea that she has been able to be this spy for two years without being discovered. That gave me a great arc to play later on. Because you do see the real Bridget when she’s in distress. She knows what she’s doing when she steps into that office. She thinks the Basterds are morons for messing it up. And she gets at Brad…. It was, there was so much to play with her.

Q: What was it like filming the fight scene with Christoph, the cast and being throttled out of your chair, looked a little rough and tumble?

A: It was rough, yeah. A really funny anecdote about that is that it is actually Quentin who was strangling me. I know it’s like, “ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING?” “DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG?” It was my last day, and he came into my trailer and he said, “Christoph is just an actor. He’s going to squeeze too hard or too little and we’re going to do it over and over. I just know exactly what we need, so I think I should just strangle you.” He trapped me, right? Sure thing, Quentin. And then, we see Christoph and Quentin is about two heads taller than him. So none of his costumes would fit him. So they had to make strap on and fake SS sleaves, that are strapped to the back of my collar. And here is this huge man on top of me – squeezing. He really was a lot less strong than Christoph, and I couldn’t tell him, “Oh yeah, no-no [feign coughing], we can do one more.” He’s so sweet, you know.

Q: How do you think this film will be received in Germany or France in that matter? Do you think it will be different from America because there is comedy, there’s parody in this film. Is it still a sensitive subject in Germany for going back to WWII?

A: Um, I know it’s going to play well in Germany because we premiered it there two weeks ago. It’s funny thing because journalists have asked us the same question since we’ve screened the movie in Cannes. The thing is it’s the same audience that is here, because it has been 60 years, three generations that have not lived through the war – and had to grow up with this heavy shadow on their shoulders. And honestly, they don’t want to hang out to Adolph any longer than you guys do. If they could, they would have killed him themselves. If anything, it’s even more positive towards seeing a movie like this that has so this revenge aspect, and you know, let’s change the ending of World War II.

Q: So what was the reaction in the theaters in Germany?

A: It brought down the house. It was Cannes times three. You know, my grandfather came to see it. I was a little nervous about that. And he was all like, “It was all fairy tale. They messed up [Joseph] Goebbels, he didn’t talk like that!”

Q: When you first read that you were going to rewrite history what was your first response?

A: That’s why I wanted to do it. You can imagine as someone born in Germany, I get offered World War II movies once a week. And I never wanted to do it. Because why should I associate myself with that just because I’m German. So this came along, and I was like, that is cool. I will be able through Bridget von Hammersmark to bring down the Third Reich. I like it, let’s do it!

Q: What was your favorite scene?

A: They all were different. The tavern scene was exhausting to film. There were five different [I DON’T KNOW] at stake. It was just a two weeks scene. Just imagine keeping up that energy for two weeks. Ten or twelve minute takes. So even when you’re not on, you’re on… I think the funniest one was the one in the theater with Brad and the two other Basterds trying to pass for Italian. It was really hard to keep a straight face. [SPEAKS BAD DIALECT] Bongiorno! I loved it because my character could really go big. “Are you a fucking moron?!” It was so funny, like an old screwball comedy to do?

Q: What was it like to work with Brad Pitt?

A: Well I knew him from “Troy.” I’m glad I got the opportunity to meet him later on in my career because I was so green and inexperienced and completely overwhelmed when we were doing “Troy.” That was my second or third movie, ever. Being a little calmer about the whole thing, having experience and having such a cool character to play, and so did he. And knowing each other it helps because we were laughing, we had such a good time. His accent [THICK], “What are you talking about?” And everybody’s doing accents, and the dog’s barking. It was great.

Q: What do you have coming up next?

A: A movie I shot just before, “Mr. Nobody” which was just selected for the Venice Film Festival which is cool because I’ve never had a movie in competition there. So I am going to go to that. And then I’m going to do a French film in French. It’s a love project, I’ve been trying to get this movie made for years and it’s finally coming together. And I try to make one French movie per year at least.

Q: For someone that speaks different languages, from the acting side of it, are you more comfortable with one than the other?

A: Not really, but you do tend to be different in different languages. I think German tends to be a lot tougher for whatever reason, and French is like soft, and English is sort of… normal for me.

Q: This project of yours did you produce it or…?

A: I helped raise the money, yeah. I was lobbying around to get it made.

Q: What was the subject?

A: Two sisters. Do you know [SOUNDS LIKE] Olivia Siognier? It’s her and me, we play sisters. It’s a female driven movie, by a female director. It’s an art house movie which is hard to make in these times.

Q: QUESTION INAUDIBLE.

A: No, I don’t think so. [LAUGHS] You know, it’s funny when I read all these names. Bridget von… who the hell are all these people? I had to look them all up because I didn’t want to go into the meeting because I knew he is such a film buff. “Of course I know her!”

Q: Quentin likes to play movies for his cast, I heard he played them on Thursday nights. Was there a special movie he played for you?

A: All his favorite movies. He loves spaghetti westerns, so there was a lot of that. I saw “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.” But the funny thing about it is, it’s not actually the movies that are so good, it’s so funny that he has a popcorn machine and hot dogs and he sits through every one of them. He does that on every movie. He has seen all these movies 200 times, and he [MOCK IMITATION QUENTIN LAUGHTER] and you just watch him really be like a boy.

Q: Knowing how he loves spaghetti westerns and all other genre movies, do you witness his effects and influence of how he shoots?

A: It is more like how he shoots it. There are a couple of iconic shots. There was a close-up of me with a fedora and you don’t see the face. It was like a classic Clint Eastwood coming up with fedora thing. He was inspired by different things like [Josef] von Sternberg. I actually called him my little von Sternberg because we sort of had that relationship on-set. He actually gave me a book about him. There was actually a shot in the tavern scene that is an iconic von Sternberg shot where he sort of moves behind a cupboard and it’s a long, long travelling shot like from a famous movie of his.

Q: Now that you’ve worked with a director like Quentin Tarantino and you’ve spent some time in the business, do you have an ambition to direct?

A: I don’t really have an ambition to direct. Once you work with someone like Quentin, it’s like, I dunno. I don’t think I could do it. It’s the business, it’s the job. I just don’t think I have that visual eye. But I definitely want to produce, desperately want to generate stories.

Q: Was it difficult or refreshing getting used to Quentin’s on-set demands and requirements?

A: Well I think the [ban] on cell phones should be a given. I don’t know what idiot would bring a cell phone onto a movie set. Seriously, I think that’s disrespectful. I would never do that anyway. But I think that will happen because a cell phone went off while we were filming, and he went ballistic obviously. No, but what he’s so strict about, what takes time getting used to – he’s so attached to his words – if you don’t say one word he will break a scene. He wants you say every single word. That’s an exercise that is quite difficult actually. You know because you could forget an “and” or a “but” or whatever – that takes time getting used to.

Q: So let’s say there’s a situation where you make it through almost an entire scene would he make you go back –

A: Yes, he would make us go back and do it again. Oh yeah.

Q: You said you would never do a World War II film and this was the exception –

A: It’s not that I don’t want to do a movie about that period. It’s just I don’t want to play that part, I’ve never been offered that part that would justify it for me to do so.

Q: When you look at a script is there a genre or a type of role you look for?

A: No it’s just, every movie has to be a different challenge. It has to be worthwhile. Um, I don’t want to play the same part that I’ve played in a different movie. I don’t want to play Helen of Troy or some similar kind of queen from that period. It has to be, I have to be scared of it to want to do it?

Q: Is this the first movie you’ve fired a gun and what kind of preparation did you take?

A: Yeah! They make you go to training. But I used to go hunting because I lived on the countryside. I was a pretty good shooter. But you know what’s hard is to shoot and not blink. It sounds stupid but it’s actually not easy.

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Michael Fassbender (as Archie Hicox, in Quentin Tarantino’s new film, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS)

Q: Can you talk about what it was like working with Quentin Tarantino and working on a project like this?

MF: It was very surreal for me. When I was like 18, I got my fiends together and we put on a stage version of Reservoir Dogs in my local nightclub, so to actually get to work with him was a dream come true. Once I got beyond that, it is fascinating to watch the man work because he does really works in his own, unique way. He is so knowledgeable in film. He does his craft by absorbing all the information. He is an encyclopedia.

MF: He is just a dream to work with. He gives you a lot of information, outside of what is written, and his reference points are very precise and original. He told me that this guy, Hicox, is like a young George Sanders. All you have to do is listen to the man, and he gives you all the ammunition you need. So, I went out and watched all the Sanders films I could get my hands on.

Q: Did you ever read Sanders’ suicide note?

MF: That is weird isn’t it? I always thought of that while I was watching them. That was always in the back of my head.

Q: How were you cast for this role? Did Quentin seek you out?

MF: Yeah, it was actually kind of interesting. I was trying to get Christoph Waltz’s part, Landa. I was really running after that part. My agent, I think he terrorized Quentin to see me, kept talking about Landa. I really put my eggs in one basket. Every night I came home and put in five hours on Landa. I got French lessons, and I did about 27 hours on Landa’s character. Then I flew out to Berlin, then he [Quentin] goes, “Okay, let’s take a look at Hicox!” I was like, “Can we take a look at Landa also?” [laughs] He said, “No, I cast my Landa on Tuesday.” So I read the Hicox part pretty much cold. I thought I made a real bulls of everything. I remember I was terribly depressed that night. Then a week later, they called me up and offered me the job.

Q: This role has all different nuances, how did you develop the character?

MF: Everything that I said was written; it was verbatim. I wanted to try to get that feeling of 1930-40’s movie star. That is why Hicox speaks not just a British accent, but also the physicality; it was really part of that era. The way they move and the props they had, like their cigarette cases, I liked that whole world and I wanted to try to encompass that whole world. Hicox is also a film critic. I thought that he would have liked to be a film actor, so I just tried to embody that.

Q: Can you talk about the scene in the basement? Can you talk about the working on that scene and how Quentin worked with you?

MF: I got my testicles blown off. There are actually two exit holes, one in each cheek. Well, we took about two weeks to film that scene and we rehearsed. Quentin likes to get everything prepped before you arrive on the day. Now anything can happen on the day; if we rehearsed something, and did it in a particular way, it doesn’t mean that we are stuck on that. We had played it so many different ways and everyone knows where they are that on the day, we were free to play. You don’t get restrained or restricted. You are really allowed to react and go along with what the other actors are doing. There was a fantastic bunch of actors in that basement. We did that scene so many times, but each time we went for it, tried to keep it fresh, and played with it. Quentin is so precise; he wants you to get things the way that he sees it, so much to the point that he will give you a line reading, but once you’ve done that you can do what you want. It is really a fun and free experience filming.

Q: Has this changed your philosophy or view of acting?

MF: It has not really changed it, but it was nice to watch someone else in his or her own world doing exceptional work. It was more of just recognizing a good director. Maybe one day I will try to do it. In terms of the acting, I tend to work fairly similarly. I do a lot of prep work. I was in Berlin for five weeks before we started filming, and the project before that I was there five weeks before. I would say that it has defined my inspirations in less obvious places and has broadened that pool of inspiration. One thing that he definitely introduced me to was the sophistication of these films made in the 1930s and 1940s, like “Pandora’s Box”; these films they were making were really dark and on the edge. I definitely got that from him.

MF: His enthusiasm and passion for film is such an infectious thing. It is very easy to go to work because the guy that is sailing the ship really has things under control. He is a real master so you trust yourself and go beyond what you would normally do. It did inspire me to just go for it, push it, and stretch that elastic band until it is going to snap and for how long can you hold it there. I just went all out with Hicox and tried to find the humor there. I just trusted myself to go a few steps beyond.

Q: After you wrapped for the day, did Quentin ever gather the cast to watch one of his selections?

MF: Every Thursday was movie night. Quentin would introduce it and tell you what he liked about the movie and bits of trivia. Then everyone would watch it.

Q: Was there any particular movie that impressed you the most?

MF: “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” I think that is his favorite film.

Q: It is one of his three favorites.

MF: Oh, right.

Q: Mike Myers is such an unlikely person to be in a Tarantino film, what was it like working with him?

MF: Why? How could you say that after all the people that Tarantino has asked? [Laughs] I was actually shitting it, really. I knew that I was trying to do a comic turn with Hicox so I am trying to go up against Mike Myers, and he is a legend. When I arrived, we just hit it off really well, and we just went back and forth all day with anecdotes and stories. We were just making up little jokes. He just stayed in his accent all day. At first, I didn’t see him. He was sort of gingery, but then you saw his eyes sparkling through. That was, again, a real moment when I was pinching myself. I thought it was cool that I was sparring with someone that I watched when I first got into the business. He was very generous and a lot of fun. Then you have Rod Taylor in there who is, obviously, this giant. I just picked his brain and asked him for stories. I was very lucky.

Michael Fassbender as Archie Hicox

Q: What’s up next for you?

MF: I just finished working on this film Jonah Hex.

Q: Which Josh Brolin at Comic-Con said in front of 6,000 people that you’re the guy to look out for in that film!

MF: I paid him a lot for that. I know, I was very pleased. He’s another one of those, special kind of people in the industry that’s very supportive when they somebody new coming up in the business. It was a real joy. I met him through the Toronto Film Festival, almost this time last year and we have the same agent and just kind of got on immediately and said that we really wanted to work together and then Jonah Hex came about. It was a blast and John Malvokvich as well — he’s pretty amazing. And Jimmy Hayward at the front of it and of course Megan Fox. I kind of developed this character and really pushed it — I’ll see how far I pushed it. I was John Malvoich’s right hand man – I had this idea about the character, he’s kind of psychotic, he gets his kick in perverted ways. I didn’t want to make it very obvious or like something you’ve seen before. But then I went into wardrobe and Michael Wilkinson, who I worked with before on “300” for costumes, and he had this three piece suit pulled out for me which was very green and I’m playing an Irishmen, and I said “look man, you’ve got to take the green down. I can’t go back to Ireland, they’ll kill me.” So, it was this faded down green-piece suit and I picked up this boiler hat and I put it on and I thought, this is just like “Clockwork Orange.” I thought I’m going to go along that vain and do Clockwork Orange meets Frank Gorshin, 1970′s Riddler with a Carrey accent. Then Christian and the guys from prosthetics created this kind of tattoo thing that started at my face and went all the way down my torso and my arms. It’s like the people around you that are doing these things, do the work for you. It began a really fun sort of character.

Q: How much of the action did you do in Jonah Hex?

MF: I try to do as much of that as they’ll let me. I do try to inhabit that physical world and it’s just sort of fun really running around and jumping about the place. So I did quite a bit of it. When we got together with the stunt guys they were just fantastic. They watched both Josh and I’s fighting styles, they watched the way we moved and stuff. And then from there they developed the fight between us, which was great. It’s kind of like Jonah is like this slugger and if he hits you once you’re in big trouble and my character is more like dancing around working inside the pocket, and his weapon of choice is a knife. We did pretty much most of it.

Q: Being of German descent, what is it like being in a movie about World War II and Nazis?

MF: I thought it was pretty cool. I like Quentin because he won’t be restrained by the confines of history. We have seen this topic done so many times. I was like, “World War II her we go again.” This is maybe the film to end World War II films.

Q: Were there any aspects about the film that you felt was different from other films?

MF: I love the fact that French people are speaking French, German people are speaking German. I always thought that was weird when there are German people speaking English with German accents [speaking with thick German accent]. It is always like, “Well, why are they doing that?” It kind of burst the bubble of illusion immediately. I think it is great.

Q: Were you surprised by anything from the final cut?

MF: I have to be honest I can’t wait to see it again because I was kind of overwhelmed with being in Cannes. It was like another scene in the film where the Basterds were infiltrating the Basterds premiere at Cannes. It was such a mad trip. I got so many elements from seeing it and I didn’t realize how much of it was like seeing separate films; like the opening scene felt like a movie unto itself. Yeah, I was kind of blown away by the whole event, so I look forward to catching it again.

Click on the Pic to see his full IMDb Profile!

Posted in Interviews, Movies/Film, Reviews ]]> http://thewordofna.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/michael-fassenberger-interview-from-the-inglourious-basterds-roundtable/feed/ 0 thewordofna IB_MichaelF_DianeK IB_MichaelFassbender IB_Michael_Fassbender http://thewordofna.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/bjnovak-interview-at-the-inglourious-basterds-roundtable/ http://thewordofna.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/bjnovak-interview-at-the-inglourious-basterds-roundtable/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:25:27 +0000 thewordofna http://thewordofna.wordpress.com/?p=471 ]]>

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B. J. Novak – (as “The Little One” in Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS)

Q: Everybody is talking about how amazing it was to work on a Quentin Tarantino set for a variety of reasons. What was your favorite part about it?

NOVAK: Quentin Tarantino. Watching him direct, which is really a performance in and of itself, and wondering how he did it, you know? I’ve always been fascinated by how Tarantino makes his movies. You kind of see the authorship at work in the film but you kind of can’t picture how he comes up with stuff. He’s very loud and performative, and if you ask him a question, the challenge becomes to get him to stop talking. Not that I had that problem, but it’s too much to handle…. please don’t quote me on that one, that’s going to come out really wrong. I just meant that he will talk forever, and to get to see that happen on set, to see him transform his words into images was cool. It was like going to Tarantino Film School.

Q: Did you feel like you had to match his energy every day on set, or is that impossible?

NOVAK: Oh, I could never match his energy. I’m the opposite of his energy. We’d be a great Vaudeville duo – the bombastic director and the quiet writer. There’s no chance. Eli Roth came much closer than I did to that.

Q: You were the little one, but you made it to the end and you basically got the two climactic scenes for the Basterds with the final defeat and throwdown of Christoph Waltz. I’m always interested in the rehearsal process – what was it like building up to that and materializing that moment?

NOVAK: Well, first of all, not to give anything away, but one cool thing about the character that Quentin had always told me he had conceptualized for it was that he was frustrated with war movies where it’s very clear who’s going to live and who’s going to die. He wanted to play with audience expectations and focus on some people and kill them off and hide some people and have them emerge. He always thought it would be very funny to have the guy who’s supposed to get killed first make it to the end. I think that was where the surprise and the fun of Utivitch surviving for so long comes from. The back story of the character and the interplay with Aldo really came from one scene that was cut to an extent – the scene in the vet’s office where everyone gets their jobs. I think it’s in the longer script and maybe it’ll be on the DVD or something. The rehearsal process of that and just the general rehearsal process we had where we went through everyone’s back story and talked about how people knew each other and how they related. He’s very much a believer in that, in the best sense – in a high school or college theater way, where you actually have time to spend to be theater-nerdy about your character and your motivation and stuff like that, which is fun. You’re on a Tarantino set, all you want to do is play and think and talk about the movie. You don’t want to just do your job. You don’t want it to end, so it’s cool that he felt the same way.

Q: Why do you think your character was named The Little Man?

NOVAK: I think there was no character named The Medium Sized Man, which I think I would have been much better suited to, so I had to take the next best thing.

Q: Because you almost weren’t little enough, right?

NOVAK: I almost wasn’t little enough, and I certainly wasn’t going to play The Bear Jew. Again, the Medium Sized Man would have been perfect, but it wouldn’t have been as funny.

Q: What were some of the more graphic scenes? You get to do a lot of graphic things – did you get to have fun with that? Is that something that’s really fun to play with on set?

NOVAK: I thought I would hate it. I’m really not a fan of violence in movies. What I’ve always loved about Tarantino is the humor and the dialog and the characters. I don’t exactly cover my eyes to the violence but that’s not what I buy a ticket to see. So it was kind of odd to find myself in that part of a Tarantino movie, but that was my job and that was my homework. I had scalping lessons, I looked up scalping on the internet and after a while, it just became like a calculus test I wanted to get an A on. I hated calculus, too, but I was a good Jewish boy who did my homework and that’s who Utivitch was. I don’t think he wanted to scalp, but if that’s his homework assignment from Aldo, he’s damned if he’s not going to get an A. That’s how I approached it on the set.

Q: It seems like you have to be able to deliver line for line, word for word with Tarantino. Eli Roth said he would actually give line readings sometimes. Everybody was saying you cannot miss an ‘and’ or a ‘the’ or anything like that. Is that something that was a challenge for you?

NOVAK: It’s a lot easier when you only have about ten lines. It was not a challenge for me at all. In fact, it was a joy. I work 99% of my life as a writer, and to have someone else write for me and to get the opportunity to say Tarantino’s words was once in a lifetime, as far as I was concerned, and I wasn’t going to fuck it up by throwing in some more B.J. Novak words that I’m sick to death of. It was fun to get to turn off the writer side of my brain.

Q: How did you get involved with the film? Does Tarantino watch The Office?

NOVAK: He seems to watch everything, which is crazy. I’ll keep his confidences, but one question I’d been dying to ask him when we went out for drinks one night in Germany was “what DON’T you like?” Because he seems to find so much greatness in everything, in every movie. There are plenty of things he doesn’t like, and he’s very, very articulate about them. It’s interesting. He had watched The Office, he was specific about some jokes and comic timing he liked between me and Mindy Kaling. I know he liked that specifically. I don’t know exactly how Hollywood works – every agent takes credit for everything. I don’t know what list I was on or what casting director or what favor what agent pulled or whatever, but they said Jewish-American actors in their 20s, and I guess all the Apatow guys were busy, and I must have showed up on some list, you know? Then I had a meeting and it went really well, and I just squeaked under the 5’9″ line for The Little Man and there I was. I don’t exactly know how Hollywood works. I just know sometimes your agent calls and sometimes he doesn’t.

B. J. Novak in "The Office"

Q: Did you have to get out of The Office production schedule to do this? How did that work?

NOVAK: Yeah, I did. When I first heard about it, it happened to be shooting during an Office production break, which felt like destiny, but then the schedule changed and it felt like destiny had hit a roadblock. There had been a Ryan plotline that had been floating around about making a play for Kelly and then running off to Thailand, and it seemed like that might be a good time to cash in that idea. Fortunately, it worked – partly because it was a funny, creative idea and partly because I hadn’t really ever asked for a favor like that and I’d been working with that group for a long time. This wasn’t a career move, this was something personal. They could tell.

Q: How much did you immerse yourself in the time period and those films? It’s its own film, but it’s informed by all this history, too and all these different film stars. How much did you watch?

NOVAK: I read a lot of books about the time period and a lot of soldier accounts of World War II to get myself in the mindset. I watched some of the movies from that era and some of those Dirty Dozen types of movies.

Q: Did you watch any of the German films, too?

NOVAK: I think Julie Dreyfus did. I didn’t get a chance. She had a copy of Lucky Kids, Goebbles’ movie, which I really wanted to watch with her, but asking to go to her hotel room to watch a movie with her sounded too sketchy, so I didn’t end up asking to see the DVD, but I really wanted to see it. But I didn’t speak any German, so I wouldn’t have been able to understand it. It wasn’t subtitled. Quentin also had an incredibly strict no cell phone rule on the set. That was our biggest fear, that… I don’t know, someone would plant a cell phone on us. I didn’t even have it with me and I was scared it was going to ring. So I think stuff like that helped keep people out of the modern world and mindset.

Q: What about the wool underwear we were told about?

NOVAK: Who told you that?

Q: Eli Roth.

NOVAK: I was gonna say, it sounds like an Eli thing. I don’t know.

Q: Did you not go into character that far?

NOVAK: Wool underwear? I don’t know what his relationship with Anna Sheppard was, but she did not provide me with anything like that.

Q: You were talking about how you didn’t have as many lines as some of the other characters, but with Quentin Tarantino films, there are no small roles. The smallest roles can oftentimes be the biggest roles, so it’s your chance to leave a stamp on his film. Did you ever feel that?

NOVAK: I felt exactly that. It’s so nice that you said that. Right before I left to do the movie, one of my friends – Brent Forrester, a writer on The Office – said “you are going to be a part of film history. I don’t care how big or small this part is. I don’t care how good or bad this movie turns out. Tarantino is film history and you’re going to be a part of film history.” I kept that with me the whole time. That wasn’t going to be taken away from me. I thought this would be a great movie and I thought the part would be really fun, but regardless, I do think his movies hold a special place. And when I came back to The Office set, Steve Carell – all these other people have these huge movie careers and they had been working with me for years and years, and I was different to them now. I was a guy who had done this magical thing. They still ask me all the time “So when Tarantino this, so what did Tarantino say…” you know. You can be a really big movie star, you can do any type of project, but there is something special about even a small or medium-sized part in a Tarantino movie. Playing even The Little Man in this movie would be a big man in anything else.

Q: Were they jealous?

NOVAK: I think maybe of the life experience. We writers are so trapped in this airless little room in the worst part of the worst part of the Valley. I think they thought I was on a yacht in the south of France with Brad Pitt the whole time. They didn’t think of lonely cold nights in a Berlin hotel room. Maybe there was some jealousy from the other writers, but when Greg Daniels let me out to do it, he compared it to a tradition they had in Russian prisons long ago, where they would let one person go each year, and it would always be the best storyteller. That person would have to go and come back, as long as they could tell enough stories to keep the rest of the prisoners entertained for the year. So he said I was the lucky prisoner who was going to go, and I’d better be the best storyteller.

Q: Can you tell us how much was shot that isn’t in the theatrical cut?

NOVAK: A ton.

Q: Can you point to any specific scenes that you had?

NOVAK: There’s a scene in the veterinarian’s office that I know was cut in half. I don’t know how it turned out. It was really fun to do, so I hope that is seen someday. There was a lot of stuff with Shosanna that could have gone further. But I think he always knew that if he released it, it would be a 9-hour movie. I think he just wanted to write and write and write and shoot and shoot and shoot.

Q: Do you have a favorite scene from the film?

NOVAK: I love when Melanie is getting ready to blow up the theater and the David Bowie song is playing and she’s putting on warrior-like make-up and going to this glamorous premiere. It’s so Tarantino to me, because it’s so feminine and visual, but it’s in the service of something so violent and action-packed. It could only be Tarantino, I thought as I was watching that scene.

Q: What did you take away from working with Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt and apply to your own acting and writing?

NOVAK: Don’t be afraid to trust your instinct. I don’t think Tarantino fit into any box when he started out, and he stayed true to his vision. He didn’t listen to any agent or friend or anybody that told him to make it more like the other movies that were coming out. He listened to himself, and I think that if you’re good, you should listen to yourself and have other people imitate you, if you can, and no one has more imitators than Tarantino. I hope someday I’m good enough that people try to knock me off, and the way you do that is by not knocking off other people. And from Brad Pitt, I learned ‘don’t let anything bother you.’ He has more distractions in his life than anyone I have ever seen, and he never wore it in public. When he was with you, it was all about the scene, it was all about you, it was all about what was going on. It was not about the thousand headaches and distractions and fake rumors and people who wanted a piece of him. I thought ‘man, if Brad Pitt can keep his cool and keep from complaining or being too big for this or that, there’s no way the temp from The Office is ever going to pull anything like that in his life.’

Q: As a Jew, what was it like being in a movie where you get to kill Hitler?

NOVAK: I think I thought it would feel more personal from that angle than it did. To me, it really felt just like a good guy/bad guy movie where everyone knows who the bad guys are. Hitler’s a pretty famous bad guy, and I don’t think you have to be Jewish to see that face and think ‘bad guy.’ Maybe it was more personal to other people in the cast, but to me it was just like any other good guy/bad guy movie.

Q: You were admiring that Tarantino has no fear and he doesn’t hold back and trusts his instinct, but he waited 10 years to actually finalize his script and send it to somebody and say “I’m done.” As a writer, is there anything that you’re working on that’s on the back burner that you’re waiting to be perfect?

NOVAK: That’s a great question. When I say I learned these lessons watching Tarantino, I can’t necessarily say I can apply them. I don’t know. I think every writer has to fight their own fear. I think there are plenty of obstacles like that, but I guess I mean specifically to not write things to please other people if it doesn’t please you is the lesson I learned from Tarantino. Don’t just try to be a working writer, try to be an artist. If you liked this film or not, you can tell that Tarantino is an Artist with a Capital A, and there aren’t that many people like that or who even aspire to be like that right now. It’s kind of old-fashioned, and I loved it. I loved being around it and I want to have the courage to try to do that myself. There are other obstacles that you face when you try to be an artist – pretentiousness is a deadly one – but it’s trying to do something great. I think there are a few people out there that I really think of as artists who boldly struck out in a direction and succeeded.

Q: Don’t you think most real artists aren’t really that pretentious, though?

NOVAK: Some are very pretentious, and some are not at all, and some don’t think of themselves as artists. Some do their job as well as they can and it’s elevated to the level of art. Most people that are curious continue to be curious and they don’t sit there and rest on their laurels, especially if they want to keep creating. So they’re not going to be talking about themselves as the best all the time.

NOVAK: Some do. Some artists have crazy egos and you can’t even talk to them. You just want to watch their work. Some of them are humble and nerdy and articulate. I’ve only met a few in my life, and I’m lucky to have even met that many, in my estimation, but Ricky Gervais is someone who I would consider an Artist with a Capital A. He did something so different and could not be more humble and normal and wonderful in the small sense, and I don’t think he considers himself an artist, although he aspires to do great, bold and brave things. There are many types, and it might be a separate thing, trying to be a good person and trying to be a great artist. I admire them separately, too, and I quite simply admire Quentin Tarantino for trying to be a great artist and not just trying to be a rich filmmaker.

Click on the Pic to see his full IMDb Profile!

Posted in Interviews, Movies/Film, Reviews ]]> http://thewordofna.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/bjnovak-interview-at-the-inglourious-basterds-roundtable/feed/ 0 thewordofna IB_BJ IB_BJ Novak_TheOffice IB_BJNov http://thewordofna.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/christoph-waltz-interview-at-the-inglourious-basterds-roundtable/ http://thewordofna.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/christoph-waltz-interview-at-the-inglourious-basterds-roundtable/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:55:32 +0000 thewordofna http://thewordofna.wordpress.com/?p=465 ]]>

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Christoph Waltz (as Col. Hans Landa SS, in Quentin Tarantino’s new film: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS)

Waltz: Good morning. Nice to meet you.

Q: Congratulations on the part. This is a fantastic role.

Waltz: Isn’t it?

Q: You stole the show.

Waltz: I’m not in the show stealing business.

[Laughter]

Q: You got to be a little bit of everything. You got to speak many different languages. You got to be funny. You got to be scary. You got to be romantic. What is it like taking on absolutely everything all at once?

Waltz: I disagree entirely. It’s not a little bit of everything. It’s all of that character, and I insist on the unity. That’s what makes it interesting. A little bit of this, a little bit of that sounds very post-modern. Zzzzzzz (makes a snoring sound). No, no, no, it’s very definitely one line down the road. This character is very, very integrated. That he has many interesting little strands and fibers, sort of mental, intellectual kind of varieties that are really rare in its multitude, that’s a different story. But it’s still one character.

Q: Before casting, what did Quentin [Tarantino, the writer/director of INGLORIOUS BASTERDS] know about you? Or, how did he discover you?

Waltz: I don’t think he knew anything about me. It was through a casting agent in Berlin.

Q: What was your first meeting with him like?

Waltz: It was very traditional casting with the casting agent in Berlin. I was one of the lucky ones. It was kind of late in the casting process. First of all, they sent me the script. That is not something that’s usually done anymore, unfortunately, to my regret. Because usually you get like a page and a half with a few lines, and then what? You have a page and a half with a few lines, but you don’t have a part! Anyway, Quentin sends you the whole script, so you know what the story is when you go to meet him. And, that’s a different meeting when you’re talking about the film. And, [it's] not about me as a person, what can I do, or how can I sell myself. That’s boring! So, it was really terribly interesting, to be able to talk with the author of this fantastic script about this fantastic script. We didn’t have to waste our time with [whether] I could do it.

Q: How long did you spend cultivating this character? Is it over a period of months?

Waltz: I had two months to study the script. I don’t think in terms of cultivating. Basically, that’s what it is. You can’t avoid it. You read it, and the thing starts to ferment in a way, subconsciously, consciously, whatever. So actually, in the literal sense of the word, that is a cultivation. But, I don’t aim at cultivation. I just try to find out what is in front of me on the page.

Q: Was it entirely organic, or were there any exterior references or influences that helped you access this character?

Waltz: Actually, [when] I want him [Quentin] to suggest references, because this man has an encyclopedic knowledge of film, you can say, yeah, can you show me like an analog character in a Hong Kong movie, and he would have it like that! So, he asked me, “Do you want me to suggest anything?” And, I said, “No, the script is enough! It’s plenty, and it’s probably more than I can digest, because there is SO MUCH in it!” I had about two months because I was cast about two months before we started. Two and one-half months. So, I was busy reading the script. That’s what I did.

Q: What was your first response when you read the script and saw how it takes liberties with history? Was it surprising, disturbing, fun?

Waltz: Explain to me how he’s taking liberties with history? How do you do that? How do you actually go about “taking liberties with history”? Are we worried because Quentin offers a new perspective on how to view it? Are we worried that certain things then would miraculously disappear? No, we’re not! He doesn’t take liberties. He takes artistic liberties in his narrative. That’s his duty as an artist. I’m not shocked about this. . . . I’m not even irritated. I’m not even sure if I’d be irritated if I was an historian, because historians know history even better. I’ve been asked before, are you worried about the reaction in Germany or in Austria about this rather unusual outcome of the story. And, I said, Why would I be worried about, what reason is there to worry? Do you think Germans or Austrians want their ‘dear Adolph’ [he trails off as people laugh].

This is the fourth generation after the war. These people don’t have a feeling of guilt. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a feeling of responsibility. And, that’s the interesting aspect. So everybody in Germany today has had this fantasy about this outcome. And, you know what? In Berlin, at the screening, as this moment approached [when the spies were trying to kill Hitler and the German high command], everybody was relaxed. We’ll see in a second. A sigh of relief went through the room [when Hitler was killed]! And, they were cheering. Of course, in Germany, the desire to see this is infinitely greater than anywhere else. This reaction really materialized. And, so there! Am I worried? No.

Q: As an Austrian, what was it like when you found out that you were the one who was going to put the bomb under Hitler’s chair?

Waltz: To tell you the truth, I didn’t find that out as an Austrian, I found that out as an actor who just needs to find out what he’s supposed to do. There’s no way of finding stuff like that out as an Austrian. The connotations kind of go over the top there a little bit. It’s along the same lines. It’s great. I’m part of this whole big, fantastic story. And, my idea about what I do is to get out of the way of the story. Get out of the way of the character. That’s not that easy to do, you know, because of course one has the ambition to excel, one has the ambition to impress. The job is to open the way for what’s on the page, especially if you have such a fantastic script.

Q: Everyone is talking about how much the set inspired them. How Quentin just loved making the movie. Did you draw any inspiration from that, and, if so, what was it? Or did it help you as an actor and did it inspire you?

Waltz: Of course it helps you to be in a beautiful room. It always helps. That’s the profession of the production designer to actually make this room perfect for the situation. But, it’s all in the interest of what the director intends to do. Or, what the author intends to say. And, even the director works in the interest of the story. So, in this case, the lucky circumstances were that the author and the director are the same person. So, you could really 100 percent rely on the vision. In the course of the years, you get accustomed to the fact that it’s going to be very impressive, and costumes can be good or bad, but still it feels good. It’s nice. But, I don’t over-emphasize these things. I don’t attribute value [to them]. That is bordering on the esoteric. I don’t do that.

Q: Do you find that, over the course of your career, do you find personally that you learn a lot from the characters you play?

Waltz: Absolutely. And, that’s what you do as an audience too. That’s why you go and see it. Because you can actually participate in [these] experiences, the consequences of which you do not have to bear. It’s proxy experience in a way, but it doesn’t mean the experience isn’t real. So, that’s where actually the responsibility of filmmakers comes in. And, that responsibility is sometimes neglected. People, audiences identify, and they identify for this reason. They want to have the experience without actually having to stick it through in real life. As an actor playing a part, you’re even one step closer to that, because you kind of get to do it, you know, without really going through, or having to, as I said, bear the consequences that you would have to bear with having it in real life, so to say. So, it’s a very interesting subject, these layers of reality, because viewing a movie is a reality. The movie is a reality. For me as an actor, playing a part is a reality. That doesn’t mean that it’s the same reality as if it happened in the so-called real life or real world. In that respect, we can come back to the historical question. Historically, he’s taking liberties [but] no he’s taking liberty with his cinematic reality, but that’s his job. If you remember that one shot in the movie where the light beam from the projection booth is shot from an angle. You see the projection booth with the two windows and the projection beam is going out to the screen from the left window, and all of a sudden, it changes to the right window. I find that a beautiful metaphor for this whole process. It changes the light that’s being shed. It changes places. And, the story continues, but now you see it from a different angle. That’s what the historic process is.

Q: Only in this film do we have the satisfaction of killing Hitler. It’s the movie that literally killed Hitler. Did Quentin talk to you about stuff like that? Or is that something he kept to himself?

Waltz: No, he didn’t keep it to himself because he wrote it in the script. He communicates through what he does, and I personally take to that because that’s my preferred way of working. We don’t try to be very smart and academic. We are in the privileged situation to actually do it. So, let’s try it. If it doesn’t work, we try something else.

Christoph Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa SS

Q: Were you surprised by your character’s arrival at that negotiation scene at the end as an actor? I mean, it wowed me that he would just dissolve everything and say, I’m going to create a union with your people. . . . When you read that what was your response and the actual realization of it on film? How did you justify that for your character?

Waltz: You could view that as a treaty. He was just an opportunist who switches sides. But, you could also view it as a shift of the light beam, you know. I take it seriously what he says when he says, “I’m a detective, a very good detective. Finding people is my specialty.” Sure, you know, the employer in this case was dubious, but then he doesn’t apply judgment. He doesn’t apply moral categories. He could, but he chooses not to.

Q: So his rat theory [when Col. Landa compares Germans to hawks and Jews to rats] is just a means of negotiation?

Waltz: Yes, in a way. But, I was quite offended when a German journalist wrote that this is a man who likens Jews to rats without the blink of an eye. But, I thought, poor idiot, he didn’t get it. Because [Col. Landa] says yeah the German could be a hawk and the Jew could be a rat, and the Nazi propaganda says the same thing. “But,” Col. Landa says, “where our conclusions differ, I do not consider the comparison to be an insult.” That really is a clue for the whole part [of Landa]. Others apply moral connotations, and derogatory and racist and dangerous [connotations], but he, Landa, says, “I look at the rat. The rat has fantastic qualities, and the Jews have fantastic qualities.” He’s in full appreciation of what this whole layer of reality entails. That makes it infinitely more interesting than saying, “Well, he calls Jews rats and Germans hawks.” This is fantastic playwriting, on the highest level.

Q: They’re hiding, they’re burrowing, they’re nesting underneath the house [referring to the Jewish family hiding under floorboards in the movie's opening scene].

Waltz: Yes, they understand how to survive under terrible circumstances. They still know to survive. [Col. Landa] says that, because he appreciates what immense feats human beings are capable of.

Q: Do you mean Shosanna [the family member who gets away]?

Waltz: Maybe. What would have happened if he had shot her [when she ran away in the opening scene of the movie]?

Q: Yeah, I was wondering what his motivation was. If it was actually physical because she was out of range? Or if it was a decision? It definitely seems like a decision.

Waltz: That’s a good guess. What would have happened had he shot her?

Q: There wouldn’t have been a movie.

Waltz: Yeah, absolutely! Why not?

Q: Because there’s no drama for him [Landa] in it.

Waltz: There you go! Exactly.

Q: He’s doing it for intrigue.

Waltz: Or testing, if you want. Or what?

Q: Is there a certain level of respect for her, because she got out that far?

Waltz: Yes, possibly. Absolutely, absolutely. And, admiration for [her] guts. And to prove his theory.

Q: What kind of impact has the Cannes Film Festival meant for you personally and professionally?

Waltz: It turned everything on its head. Not so much personally, because personally I’ve been doing this for quite some time. I would recommend for every actor to wait 30 years until something like that happens. Because, I think as a 25-year-old, I could not handle it. You have to fly off the handle somehow sooner or later. Not Brad [Pitt], for example. He really stuck to his guns. You know, you have all these stories about new shooting stars who end up in rehab. There are psychological consequences, absolutely. So, I’m lucky that I’m 50 [when this acclaim happened].

Q: How was working with Quentin and Brad Pitt? What did you learn from it?

Waltz: Well, they are, you know, master craftsmen. And, you know what? I consider myself a master craftsman too. That doesn’t say anything about the level of the mastership, you know, but like a black belt. It’s more fun to work with masters. I don’t consider myself a seventh dan [pronounced “dawn,” a degree of martial arts belt]. I consider Quentin a seventh dan. And, Brad certainly has high ranking in that respect. So, no, in all seriousness, these people know exactly what they’re doing. They’re true artists, masters at what they do. There’s no greater joy for me. I love working, but I love working properly. I don’t like showing off, or pretending. It’s fantastic work, but you have to do it.

Q: Can you just talk a little bit about the rehearsal process, what it was like to be manipulated by Quentin?

Waltz: You’re not being manipulated, not at all, and that’s one of Quentin’s great qualities. He does not manipulate, he inspires. He operates on a level of energy that has no comparison. And, he inspires. He establishes this stream, this flow of awareness for his vision and his story. And, all you really need to do is bury self-interest.

Q: He inspires something? He gives you an image or something that. . .?

Waltz: He does not instruct. He does not teach. There’s nothing didactic about his approach whatsoever. He inspires you. In a way, it seems to be a little like magic. He inspires you to the degree where you end up doing, with full conviction, exactly what he needs for his movie.

Q: How are you adjusting to all the international interest in you? Because I know you were huge in Europe, but now I hear everyone is interested in you.

Waltz: I said this after Cannes. Ten flashbulbs bother you; 10,000 are fantastic! Thanks a lot. All the best!

Click on the Pic to visit his IMDb Profile!

Click on the Banner to see the Official Movie Website!

In war and retribution there is only madness. An ensemble of the most raw, cunning, and barbaric fools realize this truth in Quentin Tarantino’s latest work, Inglorious Basterds.

The title says it all, and knowing Quentin, certain ends were predictable. But I suppose, fate had more to do with that predictability than anything. And in the very end, looking back, I seem to have been propelled through a plot that took me all too terribly by surprise.

The film takes place in France, in the grip of German occupation during WWII. A stunning shot of dusk over a dairy farm sets the mood for a sober experience. But despite the authenticity of cinematography, costuming, and staging, Quentin had no mind to make just another WWII film. Instead, he flipped a switch in the opening sequence and infused his tragedy with humor.

Colonel Hans Landa SS

Deliciously portrayed by Christoph Waltz, Col. Hans Landa, with the light of a cartoonish pipe, colors the story with its first touch of insanity. In a flight of jovial conversation, Landa coerces a stubborn farmer to reveal his Jewish refugee wards. But the comedy in Waltz’s performance, however jarring, did not break the authenticity of the event. And so, with a cheerful “Adieu,” Quentin’s first massacre is executed by the most frightening villain of all: the witty one.

Seamlessly, each scene tops the last, balancing humor with horror, brains with guts. But if the film is epic, it is because the filmmaker has created his masterpiece. There are no battlefields. There are basement pubs. There are no war heroes. There are wannabe actors and vain Third Reich filmmakers. There are no missions to save a valiant Private Ryan. There are only Basterds, a fraternity of Jewish Americans out for some Nazi-huntin’ sport. A refreshing “flick” that is anything but, Inglorious Basterds illustrates—graphically—the capacity of human kind for destruction and madness in a style I haven’t seen so beautifully handled since Dr. Strangelove. And indeed, Col. Hans Landa’s final stand against his opposition recalled the glory of Slim Pickens’ famed ride on the atomic bomb.

Tarantino’s script, after a decade of writing, and less than a year in pre-, production, and post-, materialized as the freshest take on a WWII setting that the international film community has seen to this day. With brilliant performances from each member of the ensemble cast, ballsy dialogue, and awe-inspiring visuals, Inglorious Basterds eclipses Pulp as the highlight of Tarantino’s career.

Click on the Pic to see the Official Movie Website!

Click on the Pic to see the Official Movie Website!

So, check it out. This weekend might have been the most fun I’ve had since I moved to LA. I saw a screening of “Inglorious Basterds,” Quentin Tarantino’s latest, on Friday in preparation for my Sunday interviews at the IB roundtable at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. And after speaking with some of the great new talents of our age and ever-extraordinary experienced greats, I can’t get enough of this film and this cast. I’ve been googling the interviews, the spoilers, the trailers, the videos, the quotes, EVERYTHING. Because I. Can’t. Get. Enough.

And apparently, neither can Eli Roth. However deserving he was for the part, to be a part of the project is still a blessing. And Roth can’t help but show his pride:

(ugh!! so the video won’t show on my website, but check it out where I found it at: X17 Video ).

Click on the Pic to see the Official Movie Website!

Apparently, while Roth was in Cannes to promote IB he was assigned a suite at the Carlton Hotel neighboring his very own poster directly outside his window: “Eli Roth is a Basterd”! It has been rumored…although this video is a fair little tell…that every Eli would attend to his admirers, waving from his balcony! Occasionally, he’d be with his coffee and morning paper, while other times, in his bathrobe, he’d drink champagne or even sing a hum-diddy from Evita.

Heck, if I were in a Quentin Tarantino film, I’d be right up there with him. Congrats Eli! And thanks for a great interview!!! (Audio files and coverage to follow. In the meantime, catch my teaser review at: www.moviechopshop.com !

Check it out in my Acrylics!

June 2007 - study of a Michelangelo Sistene Chapel Figure

June 2007 – study of a Michelangelo Sistene Chapel Figure by Anna Heatwole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

So I’ll say now that I am amazed
That a woman can step up with her cart
To the only open check out lane—
With a crowd of grizzly shoppers behind her,
With their microwavable midnight dinners,
Hungry and tired and testy—
And unload one after another
After another cereal box, 24 and counting!
25, 26… And even more— I am stupified
That the cashier, ringing 1, 2, 3…8, 9, 10
Boxes, one after the other after the several
And more others that come cheerily, putt- putt- putting,
Down the conveyor belt— can ring and not blink
An eye, or raise a brow, or stare. He just rung—
And I know that isn’t proper grammar, “he rang,”
But I was about ready to wring my neck, which,
If you will, consider me already wrung up a rope and dying slowly—
So, if you will, HE JUST RUNG 44, 45, 46.
And I stood there, right behind The Cereal Box Lady,
Staring down the cashier, waiting, desperate for that exchange,
The Look: Dear God. But the cashier was apathetic,
And all I could think was, are there any Cheerios
Left for the poor guy who comes in looking
For his most favorite last-minute-of-the-waking-day-dinner?
This woman had quite literally swept the aisle
Clean of its Cheerio content, ker plop!
Into that basket. That stupid, Costco style,
Wide-load basket, only excusable for the use
Of Mothers of 9 or 12 children. Or Professional Footballers.