Talking With Tarantino Part One

"Inglourious Basterds" is a gorgeous, violent, beautifully acted, gut-punching, genre-blending jolt that doesn't make you want to scalp Nahtzies (as Brad Pitt's hillbilly Aldo Raine so memorably intones), it makes you want to watch a lot of movies. Or rather, live in a world of movies. Escape into a world of movies. Envelop yourself in your most demented revenge, cinematic, conversational, and yes, sexual fantasies on screen. Tarantino wants you to get your rocks off. Some will hate this. That's their prerogative. But I will not only love this, I will wrap my arms (and to be complete, my legs) around such complicated pulp with hearty approval. If all of this sounds pornographic, fine. Send me the prequel in a brown paper bag.

 

 

But I'm not talking soley about the those scalp-hunting, Nazi-hating basterds. Contrary to advertising, to certain enraged critics and to all of those "opinion shapers," Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds is not just about the basterds. It's about, of course, Nazis, but the German film industry, and under Goebbels in particular, and the insane, grand pageantry of the Nazi party which really, mirrors the fantastical elements of the picture. And then there's the movies within movies. History as seen through the eyes of a person who isn't pretending to have felt such things -- but felt them through cinema.  And, in its most soulful, touching moments, it's about the women, one an escaped French Jewish woman who must survive, while running a movie theater. Naturally.

 

So, again, like all of Tarantino's pictures, it's a movie about movies. Seeped in cinema lore and love, Tarantino has created a revisionist fantasy filled with beauty, horror, humor and heart. And talking with him, it's not a surprise he knows the cinema of what he speaks and sees. From Sam Fuller to Robert Aldrich to Aldo Ray to UFA to even, Snoopy, we had a mutual love fest for motion pictures (you'll read a lot of "I love" in this interview, apologies...well no apologies, actually). For a film about nasty Nazis and nasty basterds, the resulting discussion was very, very nice.

 

KM: There’s much talk about the revenge fantasy of the basterds in this movie, but to me, in a good way, they really are side characters. Fun, violent, at times compelling ones, but one part of the movie. And too many critics simply fixate on their actions. What I really admire here is that you bring up UFA (Universum Film AG) and Goebbels. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie that really goes into that territory, especially in a comical, satirical way, but also somewhat seriously. It’s quite true what you’re showing – that with the Nazi party, it was this grand pageant to them. Goebbels and Hitler were like studio bosses. Goebbels was a movie mogul, essentially.

 

QT: That’s exactly what he was. Actually when I came up with the idea to deal with the filmmaking end of the Third Reich and the German film industry, I thought, “Wow that’s never really been done before.” So I got really excited by it. And I loved the idea of not just portraying Goebbels as the minister of evil or the architect of evil but truly as his job as studio head of over 800 movies. He had control and power and sign off ability on every single movie that was made in Germany. And really just playing up his role as studio boss, with his protégé.

 

KM: What do you think of those UFA films and some of the stars who stayed or left? Marlene Dietrich left and never forgave Emil Jannings for staying.

 

QT: It’s funny because there’s a lot of bad books written about the filmmaking end of that era that tend to just completely focus on "Jud Süß" and "The Eternal Jew" and stuff like that and you just think that’s all that’s made, even when you read books about it. But they were actually quite different from that. The majority of the movies they made were like comedies and musicals. He wanted to keep the people entertained, get their mind off the war. Other than the earlier days, when they were trying to get in the war, OK we’re going to invade Poland so we’re going to make a movie that that vilifies the Poles and show them raping German women so that explains what we’re doing.  That was really only the first few years of them. What was interesting was when they actually did try to deal with the war; they did it as parables and subtext, alright. They would do movies of great men of German past that usually had parallel with something that could be done in modern times. Like for instance, in real life that Goebbels did, that wasn’t "Nation’s Pride," but was his last ditch effort saying, "We're not gonna win anymore battles on the battlefields, but we’re gonna win one in the cinemas." That was a movie called "Kolberg" that told the story of a Prussian village that repelled Napoleon’s Army. Now you don’t have to be a genius to figure out when you’ve got the Americans on Normandy and the Russian’s banging at the gate, who they’re referring to in their little parable of strong Germans holding the fort. So it’s not just as blanketed as, "Oh all they did was anti-Semitic movies." Oddly enough, any movie made where Goebbels is the head on it is going to be political by its very nature, alright. Whether by what they say or what they don’t say – what they don’t allow being said. I have to say that there is one movie that I really like, the one that they refer to, "Lucky kids," also known as "Glückskinder," it’s very funny. It’s a very funny screwball comedy. And they re-created New York in the movie. And it’s one of those things, just like in American movies, you’ll watch "The Shop Around the Corner" and it’s supposed to be in Budapest, but obviously they’re all speaking English. Well this is supposed to be taking place in New York and they’re all speaking German, and that’s just kind of cute.

 

KM: "Lucky Kids" is like "It Happened One Night"…

 

QT: Yes, it’s actually Goebbels’ version of "It Happened One Night."

 

KM: Speaking of UFA stars and actors to inspire your cast. Christoph Waltz said to me that when you asked if he wanted to be informed of actors to work from, he said no. I love this because his character is like something you’ve seen and then, something you’ve never seen. He reminded me of someone like Conrad Veidt, he just resonates this very clever, witty, frightening and intriguing bad guy.

 

QT: Yes, I think of Conrad Veidt too.

 

KM: But then you also talked to Michael Fassbender, which I can’t help but pronounce like Fas-bind-er…

 

 

QT: Yeah, yeah, yeah, like Rainier Werner (laughs). You can say FAS-bend-er.

 

KM: Well he informed me that he studied George Sanders. And, I was most impressed that he even read Sander’s suicide note, which is one of the greatest kiss-offs ever.

 

QT: Yes! And it’s perfectly George Sanders too. Of course he wanted to go out in a witty suicide note... That was a situation where, I was thinking of anybody when I was writing Landa. Landa was Landa. I wouldn’t have suggested to draft in another actor. But in the case of George Sanders, one of the things that was really interesting was, I watched a whole lot of movies that were made during the war. American propaganda movies. Usually made by directors who were living in exile in Hollywood because their countries were overtaken by Germans. Whether it be Jules Dassin out of Greece, or Fritz Lang out of Germany, or Douglas Sirk out of Austria, you know, all the way down the line. Anyway, the funny thing is, George Sanders is in almost every single one of them. And I ended up getting a crush on the guy. He’s just so cool. And also this aspect, that you can’t imagine that anyone was writing dialogue for him because all of his lines sound like what George Sanders would say.

 

KM: "You’re too short for that gesture." [Sanders quote in "All About Eve"]

 

QT: Yes. He opens his mouth and these erudite things come tripping out. And so I was definitely patterning him on George Sanders and so, I said you’ve got to see this guy. And so we saw a couple of George Sanders movies and [Fassbender] was like, (boldly) "If that’s what you want me to do, that’s what I’m gonna do."  (Laughs)

 

KM: I also love how classic this film looks too. The opening scene is absolutely beautiful. It’s a wonderful cross between a Spaghetti Western, and then a John Ford "Searchers" moment too with obviously, the open doorway. And then later, there’s the French New Wave aspect with Mélanie Laurent’s Shosanna, who, when you first see her, looks like she stepped out of "Jules and Jim."

 

QT: Yeah, right. Exactly. I’m really happy in that third chapter when that French stuff takes over. It really plays like a little French movie. And not trying to be, but just plays like it.

 

KM: And the set up with Daniel Brühl’s Frederick Zoller, as he’s trying to seduce her, as dark as it is, there’s a playful quality to it. And, in that pivotal moment, she doesn’t want to shoot him. She doesn’t want to kill him. But not that she has full sympathy for him, and there’s not a thing with them, but there’s something between them, some kind of odd chemistry …

 

QT: Yes. It’s not a thing. She can’t ever forget her situation and who he is. I might have more sympathy for Zoller than most American audiences do. I’ve heard people applaud when Zoller gets shot, not in any screenings I’ve been too, but other screenings I’ve been told of. And I was like, "Hmm…I don’t like that." You know because, Audie Murphy is a hero, Frederick Zoller is a hero.

 

KM: And the film in the movie, "Nation’s Pride" recalls Audie Murphy…

 

QT: It very much does. It was kind of meant to. And there is this aspect that all these people were trying to kill Zoller, he’s just the one who won. And everything he’s doing he’s doing with the best intentions. He’s screwing her up so bad it’s not even funny, but he doesn’t know that. And to me, at the end, there’s an almost Romeo and Juliet quality to their end. And in a different time, things could have been different.

 

 

Read Part Two here.