At the origin of the project, Quentin Tarantino wanted to see the three biggest stars of action cinema appear in his film “Inglourious Basterds”!
It’s one of Quentin Tarantino’s most iconic films, who gave Brad Pitt one of the best roles of his career. However, Inglourious Basterds could have taken a completely different form than that of the feature film released on our screens during the summer of 2009.
The idea for this war film, designed as a homage to spaghetti westerns, dates back to the 1990s. Writing of the screenplay began shortly after the release of Pulp Fiction, and spanned several years. Ideas flow, stories intertwine and yet Tarantino fails to find a conclusion to his story.
The project was put aside during the filming of the Kill Bill diptych, then again when Quentin Tarantino committed to directing Boulevard of Death. A long-term project, Inglourious Basterds was finally released in theaters in August 2009, with a prestigious cast in the credits.
Brad Pitt appears in the role of Aldo Raine, an American soldier with a killer Tennessee accent. At the head of the Basterds, an anti-Nazi commando which operates within enemy lines, he relentlessly hunts down, kills and scalps the Nazis and his feats of arms reach the ears of the Führer himself.
Miramax Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth) and Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt)
The Expendables before their time
When he imagined the film in the mid-90s, Quentin Tarantino began to dream of a casting bringing together for the first time on screen the three biggest stars of American action cinema. Thus, for the role of Aldo Raine, QT is thinking of Sylvester Stallone, an actor that the filmmaker wanted to direct three times during his career.
“The Jewish Bear” Donny Donowitz is played in the film by director Eli Roth, a close friend of Quentin Tarantino. But in the first version, it was Bruce Willis who was considered by the filmmaker – an actor he directed twice in Pulp Fiction, then in his segment of the sketch film Four Rooms.
A third Basterd could have been played by an action superstar. Arnold Schwarzenegger was Tarantino’s lead performer when he imagined the character of Hugo Stiglitz. In the end, this German soldier who has unlimited hatred for the Nazis is played in the film by actor Til Schweiger.
Certainly, Inglourious Basterds as it was originally imagined by Tarantino no longer has much to do with the feature film as it was finally shot. But these changes have not impacted the quality of the film, quite the contrary, which is among the highest rated on AlloCiné in the director’s filmography with a spectator rating of 4.3 out of 5.
As for Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the three juggernauts of the American action blockbuster were finally brought together for the first two parts of the Expendables saga.
The film Inglourious Basterds will no longer be available on Prime Video from November 25.
Discover the list of films currently available on the platform!