‘Basterds’ Prequel Script is 50% Complete, But Probably 100% Bullshit
Posted by Josh Radde (josh@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 11, 2009
Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino’s next film which premieres at the Cannes Film Festival May 20th (with a title that my spell-check refuses to accept) may just be the first installment of a war story Tarantino intends to tell. According to the New York Times, Tarantino also has a half-written prequel” to Basterds should the film be a rip-roaring success.
The prequel would focus on a band of African-American soldiers stuck behind enemy lines during, I would assume, World War II. This information came out when Tarantino told the Times that his revenge fantasies have more to do with inflicting punishment on the Ku Klux Klan than they do with mimicking the Asian and Western genre motifs and ’70s exploitation visual style. “Once the Basterds get through with Europe, they could go to the South and do it to the Kluxers in the ’50s,” Tarantino said, alluding to possible sequels for Brad Pitt’s merry men.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell when Tarantino is just being snarky or if he’s being realistic. But one thing I can tell you is that a prequel being halfway written is more than likely a bunch’a hullabaloo – especially when it comes from the same man that told us he had a World War II action picture ready to start filming 10 years ago. No, I do not doubt that somewhere in Tarantino’s head is 60 pages worth of cool dialogue paying homage to and referencing his favorite movies as a child. I just doubt that we’d see said movie within this or the early half of the next decade. And considering that Sam Jackson’s narrator is one of few African-Americans associated with Inglourious Basterds, it might also be safe to say that a prequel would be about his character (otherwise, I’m not sure how else this would be a “prequel”).
For those not making the trek to Cannes (and to those that are – do you have room in your suitcases to store me in the overhead compartment?), Inglourious Basterds opens in the U.S. August 21st.
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