They say Quentin Tarantino’s enthusiasm for film is contagious. You find yourself in a room with the man, and his childlike energy and ability to talk faster than a speeding bullet (usually because his brain is already four sentences ahead of you) suddenly becomes part of you, even if he is talking about the most obscure film you could ever imagine.

Or so I hear anyway, I’ve never met the man… though it is most definitely the feeling I get from seeing him at work, or in interviews. 

Having said that, if I were a member of the cast on Inglourious Basterds and I heard Tarantino go through this routine the eighth or ninth time “let’s do it again, why? Because we all love making movies“… I would be about ready to slit my wrists. 

A new behind-the-scenes feature premiered in brief on American Idol last night (where Tarantino was a special guest for Movie Songs Week) but has since been captured in full by Film School Rejects. The footage shows some new glimpses at the film and our first look at a heavily make-upped Mike Myers as British General Ed Fenech, and yes, that’s probably the same kind of humour he is going to bring to the finished role…

Despite the huge ensemble, Brad Pitt is the one who shines through. Tarantino uses the camera differently on Pitt, allowing the actor to have many profile close-ups, the kind that Lee Marvin was great at capturing. It’s almost Pitt-porn, in a way but he is revealing in it. 

Inglourious Basterds is about a month away from debuting at Cannes but then a further quarter of a year away before we can see it on general release in August.