INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

between the two. Tarantino was equally effusive about Pitt.

‘Brad has become a man, and with it reached the peak of his career,’ he said, adding: ‘What’s really cool about Brad right now is that the pretty boy is gone. He’s a man now. He can bear the weight. Brad is at the zenith of his iconicness.’ In Cannes, the Basterds received a mixed reception. At its press screening in London, the reaction was generally ecstatic. Given each film he makes inevitably becomes a highly

‘BRAD HAS BECOME A MAN. HE’S AT THE ZENITH OF HIS ICONICNESS’

anticipated event, does Tarantino give due consideration to his career? ‘If I was too Machiavellian about my career I wouldn’t have done Grindhouse,’ he says with a laugh. ‘In that case, I just thought it would be fun to

do. I didn’t think it was going to become such a big fucking deal. . . I don’t want to stop being excited about my work.’ So is Tarantino pleased with his latest outing? ‘You don’t ask the chicken to comment on his soup,’ he shoots back. ‘But I will say the opening chapter is everything I could ever have hoped it would be.’

Inglourious Basterds is out on general release from Wed 19 Aug. See review in Film.

Troy The skirt, the testosterone

Mr & Mrs Smith The sexual tension, the firearm fetishism

2007 2009

2004 2005

Babel

The earnest handwringing, the ‘Message’

The Assassination of Jesse James . . . The gunslinging, the

moody staring

2008

Burn After Reading The wackiness, the not- as-funny-as-it-should- have-been-ness

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The mawkish

sentimentality, the Yoda makeover

Inglourious Basterds the moustache, the derring-do

20–27 Aug 2009 THE LIST 9