“I can’t make this movie without…”: Quentin Tarantino Was Desperate for Brad Pitt for His 1 Movie Despite Wanting Sylvester Stallone Originally
Quentin Tarantino is one of the most legendary filmmakers of the current generation and one of the best modern-day auteurs. The director has helmed cult classics such as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs, and more and is currently working on his last film titled The Movie Critic. The director is also known for his revisionist historical films.
The first of his revisionist history films was the World War II epic action drama Inglourious Basterds. The film became the first collaboration of Tarantino and actor Brad Pitt, who had been trying to work with each other for years and the stars finally aligned on the epic drama. Tarantino reportedly became so attached to Pitt while writing the film that he was afraid the film would not happen if Pitt did not come on board.
Quentin Tarantino’s Legendary World War II Film
All the great directors have at some point tacked war in their filmography. Be it yesteryear legends such as Francis Ford Coppola and Stanley Kubrick, or modern magicians such as Christopher Nolan and Sam Mendes, a War film is always a sure shot during Awards season and is a great way to explore human psychology.
Quentin Tarantino forayed into the genre, but the auteur had to make it his own. His spin on the fight against Nazi Germany came in the form of a revisionist historical piece that saw a group of Allied soldiers infiltrate Nazi Germany and terrorize the soldiers with extreme violence. Brad Pitt headlined the titular Basterds, who make their mission to kill Nazis.
Tarantino reportedly conceived the script right after he finished filming Jackie Brown, but as the film became bigger and bigger, he put it on the back burner and started working on Kill Bill. He then directed Death Proof as part of his double feature with Robert Rodriguez called Grindhouse, after which he returned to the Inglourious Basterds.
Some of the actors in Quentin Tarantino’s wishlist were Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis as the trio of Basterds namely Aldo Raine, Donny Donowitz, and Hugo Stiglitz. Eli Roth would go on to play the role of ‘The Bear Jew’ Donny Donowitz while Hugo Stiglitz was played by Til Schweiger.
Quentin Tarantino’s Obsession With Brad Pitt
Quentin Tarantino’s wishlist for the cast for Inglourious Basterds ranged from Adam Sandler as the ‘Bear Jew’ and Leonardo DiCaprio as Colonel Hans Landa. While neither panned out, Tarantino reportedly was really attached to actor Brad Pitt to play the role of Aldo Raine. The duo had been eyeing each other for many years and Tarantino felt that this was the perfect script to collaborate on.
In an interview with The Guardian, Quentin Tarantino revealed his obsession with Pitt and how he imagined him to play the character,
“Artistically, me and Brad have been sniffing around each other for a while. The longing looks across the room, the little notes, ‘I like you, do you like me.’ Pretty quickly into writing, I realized this is the one for Brad and then I started getting nervous – ‘s*it, if he doesn’t do it, what the f*ck am I going to do?'”
The duo had sort of collaborated once in the film True Romance, in which Brad Pitt had a cameo role and Tarantino served as the screenwriter. However, the duo reportedly finally got together in Pitt’s French home and discussed the film well into the morning while sipping wine. Brad Pitt would collaborate with Tarantino again on Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, for which he would win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
