Director Quentin "Kill Bill" Tarantino's World War II exploitation feature "Inglourious Basterds" started principal photography last week on location in Germany, with an ensemble cast including actors Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Brühl, Eli Roth, Samm Levine, B.J. Novak, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhard, Paul Rust, Michael Bacall, Omar Doom, Sylvester Groth, Julie Dreyfus, Jacky Ido, August Diehl, Martin Wuttke, Richard Sammel, Christian Berkel, Sönke Möhring, Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers, Rod "The Time Machine" Taylor, Denis Menochet and Cloris "Young Frankenstein" Leachman.The film reunites Tarantino with Academy Award-nominated editor Sally Menke, Academy Award-winning DP Bob Richardson and production designer David Wasco. Also joining Tarantino for the first time is Academy Award-nominated costume designer Anna Sheppard.
Academy Award-nominee Lawrence Bender is producing the film with Erica Steinberg, Lloyd Phillips, Bob and Harvey Weinstein as executive producers. Co-producers are Charlie Woebcken, Christoph Fisser and Henning Molfenter, with Pilar Savone, associate producer.
The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures, through its newly formed International Studio, are co-financing and co-presenting the film with TWC handling domestic distribution and Universal handling international distribution. The two companies are partners on the project.
Zehnte Babelsberg Film, a subsidiary of Studio Babelsberg AG, is producing "Inglourious Basterds", shooting @ Studio Babelsberg, Berlin, Saxony and Paris.
Premise of the film is set in German-occupied France, where 'Shosanna Dreyfus' (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of 'Colonel Hans Landa' (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner/operator of a cinema.
Elsewhere in Europe, 'Lieutenant Aldo Raine' (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of soldier misfits, aka 'The Basterds' to engage in targeted acts of retribution against the enemy...