IN DEVELOPMENT
TARANTINO
The infamous writer of Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs,
has been stuck in development hell ever since he first came onto the idea
of making a World War 2 epic. Having spent several years in obscurity, only
surfacing to attend Cannes and to direct Death Proof, he has finally emerged
from the battle with his epic script triumphant.
Tarantino’s new film script for Inglorious Bastards: Once Upon A Time in Nazi Occupied France comes in at 165 pages and has finally been sold to Miramax for a number with a hell of a lot of zeros attached. One half of the script concerns a group of soldiers who, to escape court Marshall, accept a suicide mission behind enemy lines. The mission is to destroy the screening of a new propaganda film being premiered, with all the Nazi leaders in attendance.
The other part of the script concerns a
young French girl who is working as a screen projecitonist at the screening
and has her own ideas about what to do with these German officers. The
script is separated into five chapters and apparently those that have
read the script says they stay in chronological order, which is unusual
for a writer famed for his use of non-linearity in films such as Reservoir
Dogs, Pulp Fiction and, his most recent films, Kill Bill part one and
two.
The Hollywood rumour mill (Ain’t it cool news) seems to think
the film is going to be another two-part film, much like the highly successful
Kill Bill series. This has led some to wonder whether this will become
another trademark of Tarantino’s, much like the use of non-linear
narrative in his films.
Tarantino originally sought for Leonardo
DiCaprio to be cast as Hans Landa, a Nazi leader targeted by resistance.
The director decided to instead have the character played by a German
actor.Tarantino is also in talks with actor B. J. Novak
to be cast as PFC Utivich, a soldier that hails from New York. The
director is also negotiating with Simon Pegg to portray a British lieutenant,
Nastassja Kinski to portray a German actress, and David Krumholtz to
portray a member of the soldiers sent behind enemy lines.
However there has been one big star already cast, Brad Pitt.
The 44-year-old actor will play the Southern rebel leader who has to
assemble a team of eight prisoners-turned-soldiers to go behind enemy
lines in Nazi occupied France.
Production
for the film is set to begin on Oct. 13 in Germany. Tarantino has said
that he is aiming to complete productio on the film so it is ready to
compete in next year’s
Cannes Film Festival.