Quentin Tarantino‘s World War II will hit movie theaters on August 21 2009, The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures behind the highly-anticipated “Inglourious Basterds” announced on Wednesday. The August 21 release date of “Inglourious Basterds” is for the U.S. and Canada, and dates remain undetermined for its international release, said The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures.
Tarantino often takes a long time between projects. His last movie was a 2007 combined feature called “Grindhouse” made with director Robert Rodriguez, but he has not single-handedly directed a film since the 2004 “Kill Bill: Vol. 2.”
“Inglourious Basterds” stars Brad Pitt, and production began in Europe in October. The movie also stars Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Bruhl, Eli Roth, Samm Levine, B.J. Novak, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhard, Paul Rust, Michael Bacall, Omar Doom, Sylvester Groth, Julie Dreyfus, Jacky Ido, August Diehl, Martin Wuttke, Richard Sammel, Christian Berkel, Sonke Mohring, Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers, Rod Taylor, Denis Menochet, Cloris Leachman, Maggie Cheung and Samuel L. Jackson.
Pitt plays a U.S. army lieutenant leading a group of soldiers operating behind Nazi lines, terrorizing the enemy.
“Inglourious Basterds” reportedly borrows from Spaghetti Westerns, the mostly Italian-made films of the 1960s and '70s that combine brutal violence and lyrical, fairytale-like qualities in a different take on Hollywood cowboy movies. The film was inspired by the 1978 World War II movie “Quel maledetto treno blindato,” also called “The Inglorious Bastards,” from Italian director Enzo Castellari.
Inglourious Basterds begins in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema.
Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as “The Basterds,” Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquee, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own…
