I love reading movie trivia on IMDb. Some flicks have gobs of trivia but even just a few interesting facts are fun. Trivial Peruse is a feature where I share some of my favorite bits with you guys! We’re celebrating the work of Quentin Tarantino this month, so it’s a perfect time to TP my favorite film of his, Inglorious Basterds.
““Quentin Tarantino: [bare feet] Shoshanna is barefoot during the final scenes in the projection room.””
Tarantino’s got a thing for bare feet, apparently. Don’t believe me? Check this out. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
“To prepare for her role, Mélanie Laurent worked as a film projectionist for a few weeks at New Beverly Cinema, projecting mostly cartoons and trailers before shows. The real test set by Quentin Tarantino was for her to screen Reservoir Dogs (1992)”
So not only is Mélanie Laurent beautiful and an accomplished and talented actor, she’s a film projectionist thanks to her work on Inglorious Basterds. Nice. While it’s a little vain of QT to make screening one of his films the big test, I suppose that’s the best way of truly testing her against his standards.
“The shooting script includes a scene where Raine and his men intimidate the veterinarian into treating Bridget Von Hammersmark’s bullet wound by shooting 2 of the dogs inside their cages. This scene was apparently filmed but cut from the final print, as during the scene with Hammersmark on the table if you look behind her you can see 2 of the cages with holes in the wire mesh, and blood stains and dead dogs within.”
Holy shit, I’m glad this was cut! Surely it would have made The Basterds too…bastardly.
“Quentin Tarantino approached Adam Sandler to play Sgt. Donny Donowitz, but Sandler had to turn it down because the schedule conflicted with the filming of Funny People (2009).”
Too bad this didn’t pan out. Something just sounds right about Sandler and Tarantino working together. At least we got one comedian in the film in the form of Mike Myers’ cameo. Plus, at least Sandler was filming Funny People and not Grown Ups or some bullshit like that.
“At the end of each take, actors would face the camera and say “Hello Sally”, referring to Sally Menke, the film’s editor. This practice has occurred since Quentin Tarantino’s previous movies (such as Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Death Proof (2007)). Inglourious Basterds was the last film by Tarantino to be edited by Menke, whose work was honored in 2010 with her final Academy Award nomination for Best Editing, prior to her death later that year.”
I really wasn’t aware of the “Hello, Sally” phenomenon until writing this post. It’s such a fun, unique behind-the-scenes thing and it’s really quite bittersweet due to Ms. Menke’s passing in 2010. The practice really added a fun, close-knit family vibe to Tarantino’s work. Check out a supercut of the Inglorious Basterds “Hello, Sally”s above.
You can read more Inglorious Basterds trivia here. What’s your favorite bit of Tarantino trivia?
