Quentin Tarantino believes the role of sadistic Nazi officer Hans Landa in “Inglorious Basterds” is by far the best character he has ever written in his career.
The 53-year-old “Hateful Eight” filmmaker has loved all his characters but found Landa, which won Christoph Waltz the best supporting actor Oscar, his favourite, reported Screen Daily.
“Landa is the best character I’ve written and maybe the best I ever will write,” the director said during an appearance at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
“I didn’t realise that he was a linguistic genius. He’s probably one of the only Nazis in history who could speak perfect Yiddish,” Tarantino said.
The director, who was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the festival, also talked about how he found Waltz.
Tarantino was initially worried about finding the perfect actor for Landa and even thought of shelving the movie until Waltz came along.
“I was getting worried. Unless I found the perfect Landa, I was going to pull the movie. I gave myself one more week and then I was going to pull the plug.
“Then Christoph Waltz came in and it was obvious that he was the guy; he could do everything. He was amazing, he gave us our movie back,” he added.
The Austrian-German actor won a second best supporting Oscar for his role in another Tarantino movie “Django Unchained”. Waltz has forged a successful career in Hollywood but Landa remains his most memorable performance.
At the festival, Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” was screened on 35mm. The director, who often talks about retirement, reiterated the idea but said he may come back if a story beckons him.
“I am planning to stop at 10, but at 75 I might decide I have another story to do.”
Tarantino’s filmography includes cult hits like “Pulp Fiction”, “Kill Bill” and “Reservoir Dogs”.
Here is one of the iconic scenes from Inglorious Basterds :
