15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Inglourious Basterds

The film that introduced us to the cinematic delight that is Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds is one of Quentin Tarantino's very best. But do you know everything there is to know about it?

We have snuck across enemy lines and risked extreme torture to bring you 15 bits of trivia definitely maybe didn't know about Tarantino's war movie.

1

The role of Lt. Archie Hicox, played in the film by Michael Fassbender, was originally supposed to go to Simon Pegg who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

2

All swastikas were removed from promotional material in Germany as there was uncertainty about whether their use would be legal. In Germany, swastikas are banned unless used for reasons of historical accuracy.

3

Nation’s Pride, the film within the film, was directed by Eli Roth who also played Donny Donowitz.

4

In the scene where Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) is strangled, the hands doing the strangling belonged to Tarantino.

5

Inglourious Basterds received the most Oscar nominations of any Tarantino film so far. It was nominated in eight categories, winning Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz.

6

Daniel Brühl dubbed his own lines in the Spanish-language version of the film.

7

Leonardo DiCaprio was the first choice to play Hans Landa, until Tarantino decided to go with an older actor. Adam Sandler was offered the role of Donny Donowitz but turned it down to do Funny People.

8

Tarantino worked on the script for ten years, starting work on it before the first Kill Bill. He couldn't find the right way to end it so kept putting it to one side.

9

To prepare for her role, Melanie Laurent spent several weeks working as a projectionist at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Her ultimate test was to work the projector for a screening of Reservoir Dogs.

10

When he poses as an Italian actor in the cinema scene, Aldo Raine says his name is Enzo Girolami. This is the real name of Enzo G. Castellari, the director of the original Inglorious Bastards.

11

The pipe smoked by Hans Landa is a Calabash Meerschaum, the same one smoked by Sherlock Holmes.

12

Because he'd only seen her in American films Tarantino was worried that Diane Kruger wouldn't be able to speak the German necessary for the role of Bridget. During her audition she quickly showed him that she was fluent.

13

During the fire in the cinema, the swastika flag was not supposed to fall. However, the fire burned much hotter than expected, which softened the steel that was holding up the flag and caused it to drop.

14

Tarantino has always refused to explain the reason for deliberately misspelling the title, saying, "I'm never going to explain that. You do an artistic flourish like that, and to explain it would just take the piss out of it and invalidate the whole stroke in the first place."

15

The original cut of the movie was over three hours. Tarantino and editor Sally Menke cut it down to its release length, 153 minutes, in just two days.