Omar Doom is a real basterd. As Pfc. Omar Ulmer in this summer’s highly anticipated World War II bloodbath Inglourious Basterds, he’s one of eight American men sent to terrorize Hitler’s army in Nazi-occupied France -- specifically to hunt and kill German soldiers, not capture them. So yeah, Doom gets a little bloody; it is, after all, a Quentin Tarantino film. Doom is two for two with Tarantino now down the red carpet at Cannes. He also acted in Grindhouse -- which premiered at Cannes two years ago -- the Robert Rodriguez-Tarantino double feature, with Doom in Tarantino’s half of Death Proof. Doom's now part of that special actor club alongside Uma Thurman, Samuel Jackson, and another basterd, Hostel director Eli Roth. We chatted with Doom about writing his own music, scalping Nazis, drinking beer with the biggest movie star in the world, and playing with fire to the point where it put him in the hospital. Rather than stay exclusively dark, we also enjoyed a day o' Doom on Catalina Island in Southern California (see full gallery) before he popped away to the London premiere of Inglourious Basterds. See the clip above for a demo of Doom's slick golf-cart-racing skills, peruse the full gallery of his sartorially chic island time, and check out the full interview after the jump.

Did you know much about your role in Inglourious Basterds while Tarantino was writing the script? No, I got a call from Quentin about three weeks before shooting started. Eli Roth and I both kind of auditioned while filming Death Proof. Quentin basically broke it down for me over the phone for a while, and then finished up by saying, I want you to come to Berlin and be a Basterd! I was just like, Quentin, I've been preparing for that role my whole life!

You’ve been on two Tarantino film sets now. What’s the vibe like? Death Proof was a little more laid back than Inglourious Basterds. Basterds was more focused due to it being a bigger production and on such a tight deadline. Quentin definitely knows how to have a good time though.

What kind of good time? He always has cool music playing between takes and creates this very intimate environment for the entire cast and crew. It just really feels like a party where everyone is having a great time, and it doesn’t really feel like work. It’s a bit surreal as well because when you're working on a Tarantino film, you're working on film history. So yeah, it feels surreal to go down in history.

Kind of like “Quentin’s World” ... Yeah, basically you're in “Quentin’s World” during his shoots, and his world is a lot of fun. And within that world he has his actors he uses time and time again. I am very lucky enough to say I am now one of those actors.

What’s up with the Omar Doom vs. Pfc. Omar Ulmer? In every little detail in his films there's some sort of reference point -- it occurs in all his films and film buffs go nuts over it. He definitely had something in mind when he named my character Omar Ulmer, but it’s up to the audience to figure all that stuff out.

So who is Pfc. Ulmer? He is a Basterd! There are eight Basterds lead by Lt. Aldo Raine (played by Brad Pitt) to wreak havoc upon the Nazis, and Omar is one of them.

How was it working with the biggest movie star in the business? Brad Pitt is one of the coolest guys I’ve ever met. There are actors that roll up to a movie set flanked by an entourage of men in suits, and they offer up only a handshake and a fake smile to their fellow actors. Brad walks onto the set, solo, without an entourage of friends, publicists, or whatever around him, with just a six-pack of beer in his hands, like "Hey guys! Want a beer?" He’s just a straight-up cool dude.

In the trailer, Brad Pitt’s character says to each of the Basterds, “You each owe me 100 scalps and I want my scalps!” Did Pfc. Ulmer fulfill the request? I like to think so. Scalping those Nazis was the most fun I had on set. We even had to go through “scalping training.”

No way. Yeah, we were taken and shown how to properly scalp a human head by special effects guru Greg Nicotero. Quentin made sure to have us filmed during the scalp-training process to see who was, indeed, the best scalper. It turned out that person was me. Who would’ve of thought?

How does one scalp a human head? You basically get started by getting a good grip on the victim's hair and make a small incision along the top of the forehead. Then as you’re slicing through, the rest of the scalp pretty much peels off of the head like a banana. Finally give the skin a good yank and rip it off. Once you’re done, you either put it your bag or on your belt, and move on to the next victim.

Given that you were both in Death Proof, did you have any memorable moments on-set with Eli Roth? There's a scene where Eli and I are surrounded by flames in a burning building. Quentin insisted on not using CGI. All of the fire you see in the trailer is real. It’s all real! During the shoot, Quentin was up on a crane draped in a fire blanket, and there Eli and I were slathered in fire gel, blasting our machine guns in front of a gigantic wall of flames. There was a bunch of rehearsals, which were basically fire drills, because as soon as Quentin blew the horn, everyone had to leave the building. They did everything they could to make sure nothing would go wrong. Something did go wrong. The fire ended up being 1000 degrees where Eli and I were standing. We saw what was going down and just knew we had to soldier through until Quentin got the shot. I ended up being rushed to the emergency room and treated for burns on my head, hands, and the right side of my face. I heard that the fire marshal said if Eli and I were in there for only seconds more, we’d be in far worse condition.

I’d say Quentin definitely owes you one. I did only what was expected from a Basterd!

Aside from your acting duties, you’re also a musician. What’s in the works right now? I’m working on a solo album at the moment. It should be done in a couple of months and released in the fall. I actually wrote half of the songs in my off time while shooting Inglourious Basterds in Berlin, which lasted six months.

Since you’re part of the Tarantino actor family, anything in the works toward the future? There’s talk of a possible Inglourious Basterds prequel right now. Quentin has a lot of material to work with, and if all goes well we’ll be shooting again.