Tarantino: This Damn Movie Inspired Inglourious Basterds With Brad Pitt

Among Quentin Tarantino’s greatest bastards, there is little… Michael Mann! This was revealed by QT last Augustepisode Video Archive Podcast It was recorded with director and screenwriter Roger Evari, with whom he collaborated on Pulp Fiction.

In the podcast in question, Tarantino explains that Inglourious Basterds was influenced by Michael Mann’s Castle Black, a fantasy film that hit theaters in 1984. A work whose endless shooting was a nightmare for the future director of Heat and Collateral in severe weather conditions. Technical problems, the death of a visual effects supervisor during production or even a conflict with the producers on editing…

The cursed work Castle Black, like Inglourious Basterds, offers a reinterpretation of history. In Michael Mann’s film, the Nazis are tasked with guarding an ancient and mysterious Romanian prison. One day, one of them mistakenly ran into Radu Molasari, an unknown force trapped within the walls…

If Tarantino really doesn’t like Castle Black, he still appreciates some elements, like the beginning of the film where the Nazis invade the village. But this is a passage that had its significance for the sequel, where Dr Theodore Kuzaian, played by Ian McKellen, tells Radu Molasar that the Nazis are exterminating the Jews. The creature then replies that it will “destroy” the Nazis.

Disappointed that Radu Molasar’s promise to Castle Black isn’t fulfilled, Tarantino keeps the idea in the back of his mind. A quarter of a century later, he’ll do it in his own way with Inglourious Basterds, which tells the story of a lieutenant (Brad Pitt) who trains Jewish American soldiers to carry out punitive actions against the Nazis.

If you’re a fan of Michael Mann, know that his detective series Tokyo Vice, which plunges into the heart of the Japanese mafia with Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe, is now available on Canal+.

“Black Castle” trailer: