Chapter Seven: A Big Bunch Of Basterds

August 2007, and the cast began to come into place.

Hostel helmer Eli Roth is the first person on board, playing Sergeant Donny Donowitz, described as “The Bear Jew”, a hulking, baseball bat-wielding brute who slaughters Nazis with glee.

Later in the month, Tarantino would announce that Brad Pitt had indeed agreed to become Aldo Raine.

Others who officially sign up include Mike Myers (playing a British general), Freaks & Geeks Samm Levine as one of the Basterds, BJ Novak as another, Diane Krueger as actress/double agent Bridget von Hammersmark and Daniel Brühl as main villain, Colonel Hans Landa, “The Jew Hunter”.

Rumours also fly about Simon Pegg leaping onboard to play a British soldier, but he has to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

QT regular Robert Richardson would be providing the cinematography, and Eli Roth would, in addition to acting, direct a short Nazi propaganda film that becomes a target for the team.

Roth has since described it as one of the toughest things he’s ever made: “Quentin had two shots that were very specific that he wanted to do - but he was like, “For the rest of it, I need footage of people shooting. It’s a guy in a bell-tower shooting 260 Americans. I need footage of people shooting!’

“So I said okay. We got a second camera, and in 2 days we did like 130 shots and Quentin was so happy he gave me a third day.

We shot with the actor Daniel Brühl, and put together this Nazi propaganda film…[as we shot] I was thinking ‘God, I didn’t think I could be more offensive after Hostel 2, but how can I upset people more than that?’”