Lt. Archie Hicox

Played by: Michael Fassbender

Nationality of actor: German/Northern Irish

Nationality of character: British

Fassbender on Hicox: “The description in the script was that this guy was like a young George Sanders and I’m awfully familiar with him.

"Sanders was the original Saint and I just got my hands on as many of those Saint series as possible and as many films of his that I could, and I based him on a 1940s/1930s movie star.

"Those people spoke in a very particular way, it’s not even like a kind of aristocratic accent. It’s clipped and the rhythms of it and the colours of it are a very specific thing.

"Also, the way that they moved physically back then, the way they held cigarettes, the way that they held a whiskey glass, everything was like a sort of foreplay.

"So I just really studied Sanders, and tried to take what I thought was interesting from his character and brought it to Hicox.”

QT says: “I showed him a whole bunch of George Sanders movies he had never seen before and I said, 'This guy's awesome, and so Michael studied the way he talked and the rhythm, and it flowed perfectly with my dialogue.

"I also showed him a bunch of movies by Georg Wilhelm Papst, both silent films and sound films.

"It wasn’t super-important as far as the movie itself was concerned but it’s important for him as an actor - when he says the name Papst, that it’s not just a name to him. Images come to his mind, he knows what he’s talking about.”

For 10 reasons why Inglourious Basterds is Quentin's bravest, brashest film yet, check out the latest issue of Total Film Magazine, on-sale Thursday 30 July. For a sneak preview, click here.