Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Spoiler:

NYT: On this movie, you worked very quickly. Was that partially to have the film ready in time for Cannes?

QT: Yes. I wanted to have a masterpiece before the decade’s out.

When you’re making a film, like this year’s Inglourious Basterds, which will premiere at Cannes, is it hard to watch movies?

Maybe it’s just this movie, but it’s become very hard to concentrate on anything but the film I’m making. This was the hardest movie I’ve ever made.

Inglourious Basterds is a World War II epic that combines historical events with a vivid, pop sensibility. The movie stars, among others, Brad Pitt as an American lieutenant in search of Nazis and Diane Kruger as a German movie star/spy. It’s both authentic and highly theatrical. Did you shoot on soundstages in America or in Europe?

We shot the film in Berlin and a little bit in Paris. I only cast actors who could speak English with their native accents. The Germans have accents, the French are French, and the English are English. During the war, your understanding of German, whether you were a French citizen or you were in a concentration camp, meant the difference between life and death. In Hollywood movies, Germans often have English accents, and I can’t go for that contrivance. The proper accent could be the difference between success and failure.

Quentin, when did you first become aware of the Cannes Film Festival?
As a film enthusiast growing up in Los Angeles, I’ll say by 13, 14, I already knew about Cannes. I think the first movie that I knew of that had won the Palme d’Or was ‘‘Apocalypse Now’’ in 1979. Life magazine did a whole big thing on it, with Brando on the cover in his bald head. I still have that issue. To me, that movie proved that when you make a great, terrific film, you take it to Cannes. That is your premier screening — your Ali-knocks-Foreman-out screening.
What was the screening like of ‘‘Pulp Fiction,’’ which won the Palme d’Or?
It certainly wasn’t, Oh, they’re going to win this, this is obviously the movie of its time. The violence was not 100 percent accepted, and there were some boos at the end. They were reacting against the idea that this could be considered art.
Who was the head of the jury?
Clint Eastwood. And the second head of the jury was Catherine Deneuve. I think of her as the queen of France. So having the queen judge your movie is scary until you remember that she did ‘‘Belle de Jour.’’ She turned out to be one of my bigger defenders. She’s spent an entire career supporting directors who pushed the envelope, from Buñuel to Jean-Pierre Melville to Godard.
You were head of the jury in 2004. Whom did you award the Palme d’Or?
‘‘Fahrenheit 9/11.’’ You know what? As time has gone on, I’ve put that decision under a microscope and I still think we were right. That was a movie of the moment — ‘‘Fahrenheit 9/11’’ may not play the same way now as it did then, but back then it deserved everything it got.
Did you like being on the jury?
I loved it. I enjoy arguing. There was one year when I visited Cannes, and I was so caught up in the spirit that I picked 12 movies that I had never seen from all different countries and I watched them and did my own little awards thing. Can I tell you the movie that won? ‘‘Perfume’’ by Tom Tykwer. ‘‘Perfume’’ won my own little Cannes Film Festival.
In your festival, who won best director?
Bryan Singer for ‘‘Superman Returns.’’ I am a big fan of ‘‘Returns.’’ I’m working on what is now a 20-page review of that movie, and I’m not done yet.
When you’re making a film, like this year’s ‘‘Inglourious Basterds,’’ which will premiere at Cannes, is it hard to watch movies?
Maybe it’s just this movie, but it’s become very hard to concentrate on anything but the film I’m making. This was the hardest movie I’ve ever made.
‘‘Inglourious Basterds’’ is a World War II epic that combines historical events with a vivid, pop sensibility. The movie stars, among others, Brad Pitt as an American lieutenant in search of Nazis and Diane Kruger as a German movie star/spy. It’s both authentic and highly theatrical. Did you shoot on soundstages in America or in Europe?
We shot the film in Berlin and a little bit in Paris. I only cast actors who could speak English with their native accents. The Germans have accents, the French are French, and the English are English. During the war, your understanding of German, whether you were a French citizen or you were in a concentration camp, meant the difference between life and death. In Hollywood movies, Germans often have English accents, and I can’t go for that contrivance. The proper accent could be the difference between success and failure.
On this movie, you worked very quickly. Was that partially to have the film ready in time for Cannes?
Yes. I wanted to have a masterpiece before the decade’s out.
What directors made you want to become a filmmaker?
Sergio Leone and Mario Bava. I saw ‘‘Baron Blood’’ and ‘‘Beyond the Door II’’ by Bava in the theater, and I was overwhelmed. And Leone is Leone. Those two influenced me the most as far as thinking in terms of shots. And then I was in acting school, and I discovered I knew drastically so much more about cinema than anyone else in my class. I realized I was with the wrong group.
What was the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
‘‘Airport.’’ At Grauman’s Chinese. And I loved it! When the bomb exploded, I couldn’t believe what I was watching and neither could anybody else in the theater. ‘‘Airport’’ changed things: now, when you buy a ticket to see a disaster movie, you expect to see the disaster. That was not the case in 1970. Audiences then expected the hero to save the day.

Lex escreveu:NY Times

In your festival, who won best director?
Bryan Singer for ‘‘Superman Returns.’’ I am a big fan of ‘‘Returns.’’ I’m working on what is now a 20-page review of that movie, and I’m not done yet.

Lex escreveu:tive a ler algumas cenas que o Tarantino disse sobre o filme e cheira-me que vai haver musica contemporânea, como rap. o que não me deixa mto entusiasmado, veja-se o que aconteceu com Marie Antoinette.