20 facts you might not know about 'Inglourious Basterds'

“The Inglorious Bɑstards,” with all the proper spelling, is a 1978 Italian war movie starring, among others, Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson. Tarantino is presumably a fan. He took the title and repurposed it for his own war movie.

Tarantino began working on “Inglourious Basterds” all the way back in 1998. However, quickly he noticed that the film was getting bigger and more ambitious. This led to Tarantino taking a break to work on the two “Kill Bill” movies. He returned to the story after finishing “Death Proof.”

While he was writing the film, Tarantino starting imagining Pitt in the lead role of Aldo Raine. When he finished, he thought Pitt would be perfect for it, so he called Pitt’s agent. Pitt, of course took the role.

Originally, Tarantino was considering Leonardo DiCaprio to play Hans Landa, the primary antagonist. Then, he realized he needed a native German speaker in the role. Tarantino ended up with Christoph Waltz, an Austrian actor unknown in the United States, as Landa. Waltz and DiCaprio would later both be in Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.”

Tarantino wanted Adam Sandler to play Donny Donowitz, a role more violent than what he usually does. Sandler had a conflict with his movie “Funny People,” so instead Tarantino’s friend – horror director Eli Roth – took the role. Meanwhile, Simon Pegg could have played Archie Hicox, but was making “Adventures of Tintin.” Michael Fassbender ended up in the role.

Rod Taylor had all but retired from acting when Tarantino asked him to play Winston Churchill in “Inglourious Basterds.” Taylor got really into studying Churchill for his role, which would be his final acting appearance before his death in 2015.

Myers has a fairly small role in the film, but he actively sought out a chance to be in “Inglourious Basterds.” For one, he’s a Tarantino fan. Secondly, his parents had been in the British Armed Forces.

Samm Levine has a small role as one of the Basterds, and he got it in an unexpected way. Though this is a violent war movie, Levine was hired because of a cult comedy he was in. Levine had been in the one-season show “Freaks and Geeks,” which Tarantino was a fan of.

Isabelle Huppert was cast in the role of Madame Mimeaux, who takes Shoshanna in after Landa kills her family. However, she was fired during production due to “creative differences.” Huppert didn’t miss out on a ton, though. Maggie Chueng ended up playing Mimeaux, but her scenes were all cut from the movie.

Tarantino is a student of film history, so it is zero-percent surprising he based a couple of his characters on real people. Hicox is inspired by actor George Sanders, while Diane Kruger’s Bridget von Hammersmark is based on the Hungarian actress Ilona Massey. For her part, Kruger was personally inspired by German actress Hildegard Knef.

Tarantino gave the original “Inglorious Bɑstards” some love. Svenson, who we previously mentioned, has a cameo. So does Enzo G. Castellari, the director of the ‘70s film. Tarantino also has a cameo in his own movie as both an American soldier and a scalped Nazi.

The German film “Nation’s Pride” plays a key role in the plot of “Inglourious Basterds.” For the film-within-the-film, Tarantino handed off the directing. Roth directed the “Nation’s Pride” scenes for the movie.

Laurent plays Shosanna, who works as a projectionist in the film. To get her prepared, Tarantino had Laurent work as a projectionist at his New Beverly Cinema theater. Her final test? Running the screening of his film “Reservoir Dogs.”

We’re on the internet, so if we have a chance to mention “The Office,” we have to do it. It’s the law. B.J. Novak plays a key supporting role as one of the Basterds. At the time, he was also playing Ryan on “The Office.” As such, to shoot the film he had to be written off the show for a little while. Remember when Ryan goes to Thailand? That’s when he was shooting this movie.

Using practical effects to film a theater catching on fire can cause some issues, especially since actors were in the theater. According to Eli Roth, things didn’t go as planned. The fire burnt three times hotter than expected. In fact, the giant swastika wasn’t supposed to fall. The steel cables had softened and snapped in the fire.

Germany and Austria have some serious laws related to prohibiting the display of Nazi iconography. As such, publicity materials and websites had to be changed. Any use of swastikas were removed for Germany and Austria.

“Inglourious Basterds” cost $70 million to make, but after debuting at number one in the box office it was well on its way to success. The movie made $321.4 million worldwide, which was a new personal best for Tarantino. Not bad for a violent, hard-R movie.

“Inglourious Basterds” was nominated for eight Academy Awards. Tarantino was nominated for both Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, and the movie was up for Best Picture. Only one person picked up a win, though. Waltz won for Best Supporting Actor. He would win again for Tarantino’s next film “Django Unchained.”

Thought the director was originally thinking of casting DiCaprio, Tarantino is very happy he cast Waltz in the role. Tarantino has said that he was worried the part of Landa was “unplayable” until he found Waltz. The director has said that Waltz “gave me my movie.”

“Inglourious Basterds” really made a mark on pop culture. It’s been parodied by shows like “The Simpsons,” “Robot Chicken,” “Community,” and “Total DramaRama.” You can often peg these parodies by the use of variations on the word “Inglourious.”