Eli Roth Talks Quentin, Brad, and Being a ‘Basterd’

As Sgt. Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming WWII revisionist epic Inglorious Basterds, Eli Roth could quite possibly have the best role in movie history. He’s not the star, so the film’s success does not rest on his shoulders. He gets to act alongside Brad Pitt, which, for eye candy purposes, is awesome in its own right. He’s getting paid to spit Tarantino dialogue, notoriously some of the best in the biz. And, perhaps best of all, he gets to annihilate, exterminate, and eradicate, in the most violent ways possible, f**cking Nazis. We spoke to the Hostel director about bringing Quentin home for the holidays, mimicking Brad Pitt at Cannes, and the ‘holy shit’ factor that comes with being in a Tarantino movie.

Did you teach Quentin anything about gore and how to make things look more gruesome?
Quentin knows everything about gore. We have the same effects guys. What I did teach Quentin about was, while he was writing it, I sort of became the Jewish technical advisor.

How so?
There were just certain psychological things that he would kind of gut check with me. Would a Jew do this? Or do you think this way? Before he wrote the last chapter, I came over in April of 2008 and said if you want real insight into Jewish psychology, you should come over to my Passover Seder at my house in Los Angeles. I’m not very religious, but my family celebrates Passover. He had never seen that side of me, because truthfully, I rarely let it out. So, he’s never really seen me as a Jew.

Wow. So how did Quentin do?
He did Great! My father is a psychoanalyst, and he really loves Quentin, and they really get along. It was my parents, my brothers, and very close friends. There was like 20 of us and Quentin. Half of it we were joking and doing it in our Boston accents, and half of it turned into this very intense philosophical discussion. After the Seder he was like, I’m gonna go home and finish the script.

Did Quentin read from the Haggadah?
Oh yeah, we all did. I make everyone read. They don’t have to read it in Hebrew. We do it in Boston accents, Jewish accents, we have fun with it. But it always turns into real serious discussions about the Holocaust. Quentin was talking about absolution and the concept of absolution, and I said to him, you know, absolution really is a Christian concept. So the Jews, I was like, we collect interest. We just get angrier about stuff over the years. We don’t just forgive, and we don’t forget anything. I was like, I would kill every one of these motherfuckers. I wouldn’t forgive any of them.

So in that spirit was it cathartic for you, as a Jew, to be able to beat shit out of fake Nazis?
What I realized was not only was it cathartic for me, it was cathartic for them [the German actors]. They’re this whole generation of people who have nothing to do with it. They are burdened by what their grandparents did—this horrible, unthinkable thing, and they’re getting stuck with the blame for it. So all of us wanted to kill it. And the guy playing Hitler, and girls, they were like let’s fucking kill these guys. Let’s just do it. Kill them. They all had fantasies about killing these guys. So they wanted the deaths to be as violent as possible. It was like, let’s go kill them together and make a great scene.

Is this the bloodiest movie Quentin’s ever made?
I would say that’s Kill Bill. That was all about the blood, but it was cartoon blood. The violence in this is real. It’s like Reservoir Dogs violence. No one is getting shot like they’re in a movie. It’s like life. I mean, it’s Quentin.

Do you know how different the theatrical version will be from the one that screened at Cannes?
I think its going to be about the same. My guess is there’s going to be maybe a 3 or 4 minute difference. At Cannes it was his first time watching it with an audience, so there were certain character things he felt he wanted to add a little something to, certain other character things he wanted to take a little bit away from. He’s like a chef with ingredients.

What did it feel like watching the movie for the first time at Cannes?
It didn’t feel like a movie premiere. It felt like we were filming one last scene from the movie.

Can you describe that scene?
The scene was the Basterds infiltrate the premiere at Cannes. We were all dressed in tuxedos and we walked up the red carpet, and we followed behind Brad, because he looks the most like a movie star, and we just sort of waved when he waved, we took off our sunglasses when he took off his sunglasses, and smiled when he smiled. It was like surreal. I don’t know if I’ll ever experience anything like it ever again. It was the longest standing ovation in Cannes history. They timed it.

Was that emotional?
We were so happy, but you didn’t want to look at anyone for too long because you would burst into tears.

And what are you doing during such a long standing ovation?
We were all up, looking around, applauding each other and waving.

Did you want it to end?
Not at all. It goes by so fast, and you learn to enjoy these moments. I remember when Hostel opened at number one, and people were like, what’s your next movie? And I’m like, I want to enjoy this moment. I’m having my moment, and that’s what it felt like. It was so hard to get there, and here we are, and people are giving us this incredible, incredible, incredible ovation. And just seeing Quentin so happy, and seeing Brad so happy, and Chris Waltz who’s a great actor and finally getting his dues. We couldn’t even look at each other for too long, or we would start crying. And no one wanted to be the one crying at the Inglorious Basterds premiere.

Can you talk about your next directing project?
My next movie is going to be action and sci-fi. It’s called Endangered Species.

Have you cast anyone yet?
No, it’s all in the beginning stages.

I saw the international poster for Inglorious Basterds. Is it surreal being on the poster for a Quentin Tarantino movie next to Brad Pitt?
If my 20-year-old-self knew I’d actually be a Tarantino character one day, he wouldn’t fucking believe it. But Quentin said no one else could’ve done this part but me—me or Adam Sandler. He said if it wasn’t one of you guys I would’ve rewritten it. You’re the only Jews that can do the Boston accent.

So there was no audition?
He was actually auditioning people against me. I didn’t know that. Death Proof was my audition. He goes, ‘you were so good. You really understand my dialogue. You got the rhythm of it, you got how to deliver it. You really got it.’