Well, after years of inactivity, it’s all kicking off on the Inglorious Bastards front.
Quentin Tarantino delivered his script to five studios last week, for their perusal and possible financial backing. Then, said script leaked all over the internet. Even Empire’s dad has read it by now.
Then came word that Tarantino had lined up no less a figure than Brad Pitt to play Lt. Aldo Raine, aka Aldo The Apache, the grizzled leader of the Bastards, a hardcore unit parachuted behind enemy lines in WWII France, with orders to kill as many Nazis as humanly possible.
In fact, Tarantino, it seems, flew to France this week just to court Pitt who, of course, is over there at present with his missus, Angelina Jolie, having just become a father yet again.
But now it seems that another A-lister is now circling a project that has, historically, been linked with the likes of Bo Svensson, Adam Sandler, and Eddie Murphy.
Leonardo DiCaprio is reportedly very keen on playing the ostensible bad guy of the piece, a Nazi colonel named Landa - nicknamed The Jew Hunter - who’s so slimy, manipulative and utterly self-possessed that he could become one of QT’s finest villains. When you consider the opposition – Mr. Blonde, Elle Driver, Stuntman Mike – that’s quite a compliment.
Tarantino is apparently meeting DiCaprio on Thursday, so it’s all coming together rather quickly. With Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein, who’s producing the movie, also meeting with foreign distributors this week to secure funding for the film, it’s a good time to be talking about a cast that might feature Pitt and DiCaprio, two of the most bankable actors in the business.
Bear in mind, though, that nobody has signed on the line that is dotted just yet. But our mouths are already watering.