Tarantino: Pause at 5:27 in Inglourious Basterds to see this subtle but brilliant detail

From its opening scene, Inglourious Basterds hits hard, introducing the fearsome Colonel Hans Landa, expertly played by Christoph Waltz, and setting the tone for the film. But there is a very subtle detail hidden in the scene, a brilliant detail that goes unnoticed but is nonetheless very important.

At the beginning of the feature film, Landa goes to Lapadite’s (Dennis Menoche) home, where she meets his three daughters. The Nazi colonel is immediately drawn to Charlotte (Léa Seydoux), the only girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, apparently.

A little later, when another of his daughters, Suzanne (Lena Friedrich), prepares to leave to get a drink, Landa stops her by grabbing her wrist. If that doesn’t matter much, think again: take a good look at his hand position at 5 minutes and 27 seconds. Quentin Tarantino actually said that the character checks the young brown-haired woman’s pulse to see how anxious she is around him.

Therefore, it is an important detail that sets the tone from the beginning of the film and that says a lot about the character, now iconic, who only Christopher Waltz could interpret.

Rediscover the controversial moment in the video below:

Only one qualified person

When casting the film, the producer actually had a hard time finding an actor who spoke the four languages ​​required for Landa’s character. This was announced by the producer Lawrence Bender Quentin Tarantino I was even afraid to write the role”Unplayable” and that he was considering abandoning the project. But Bender convinced them to give it a little more time.

later that morning, Christopher Waltz Then he entered the hearing room. Bender revealed that after the actor’s departure, he and Tarantino high-fived each other. The director would later say: I got my movie back.“

The role of Landa launched his career Christopher WaltzIn addition, he was offered the Interpretation Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor the following year. And one collaboration belies another, as Tarantino would pick him up again for Django Unchained (2012), another role that would earn him his second Oscar in 2013.

Rehearsals like any other

Moreover, Landa’s role is one for which the preparation was quite unique. Quentin Tarantino who insisted Christopher Waltz Not rehearsing with the film’s main stars to maintain the surprise effect, Tarantino told The Moment podcast in 2021.

“I told Kristoff that I didn’t want him to rehearse with the other actors before shooting. I didn’t want that Diane Kruger or Brad Pitt Know his trigger-happy skills before rolling the cameras.“

Christopher Waltz In this way, he repeated his scenes with the director and Denis Menoche Just for the opening scene to be exact. In addition to revealing as little as possible to the rest of the cast, Tarantino also asked the cast to “hold back” during the collective reading of the script:I told him, “I don’t want you to be bad at reading, but I want you to hold back a lot. I don’t want them to think they have a preconceived idea of ​​what you’re going to give the character. On a scale of 10, give them a 6. Be good enough, just good enough. I don’t want you to be in competition with anyone on this question, and if you are, then you lose. I don’t want them to know what’s inside you or have any control over Landa.’“

The funniest character in Tarantino’s career

It’s a testament to how much the character meant to the director, a character he said was the most fun to create in his entire career. Quentin Tarantino Empire in 2020.

“The moment he enters the scene, he dominates it“, he explained. “He was really good at what he was supposed to be good at. With him, I found myself in such an interesting situation, which would have been complicated with another character. That’s because he wasn’t just a bad guy, and not just a Nazi, but a Nazi known as a Jew hunter who hunts them down and sends them to a concentration camp. And when he appears towards the end of the film, more or less understanding what the bastards are doing, the audience wants him to succeed. The audience isn’t on his side, but it’s a damn movie, so if he finally gets it, it’ll make this movie even more exciting. You don’t want him to give up. We’ve established the fact that he knows everyone’s secrets, so he has to figure them out. Because it would make the climax all the more exciting if he made it.“

Inglourious Basterds is currently available to stream on Prime Video.