Eli Roth Talks 'Basterds,' Bat Brutality and 'Thanksgiving'

Did you hear that recent news story that DNA testing discovered the skull that was believed to be Hitler turned out not to be him?

No, I haven't. There's been some stories of fakes of Hitler but my friend, Jeff Randell, whose father is an expert historian -- and actually proved the Hitler diary is fake -- and he's the one who gave us the glove guns and all sorts of props for the movie. So anytime there's a fake Hitler story I always call Jeff and he calls his dad and verifies it.

Apparently this one turned out to be a woman's skull. So maybe Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz did kill Hitler at a movie premiere.

Maybe! Unless Hitler actually had a woman's skull. That would be a whole other storyline.

When Donowitz is swinging his bat at the Nazi's heads, what actually were you hitting while filming?

Well, the first time they gave me a foam bat and a stunt guy. They taped up his head and they said, "with this angle you're going to swing this bat." I rehearsed it and they said, "it's fine if you hit him here, he'll be fine." I tapped it on my head a few times and they said, "you've got to really swing it to sell it." So I swung with what was the equivalent of a Wiffle ball bat; I broke the bat in half and I knocked him out. So I felt really bad about that. We had a number of different ways we did it: there was a dummy and a couple of takes with camera tricks where I'm swinging and he's moving and spitting blood at the same time. But there was that actually take where I hit a stunt guy; he was fine but after that I was like, "I can't do that anymore."

When you were at NYU film school you made a homage to Reservoir Dogs...

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Eli Roth Snapshots

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 14: Actor Eli Roth arrives at Universal Studios Home Entertainment's DVD launch of "Inglourious Basterds" at the New Beverly Cinema Theater on December 14, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Eli Roth

Yeah, 'Restaurant Dogs.' I was obsessed with 'Reservoir Dogs' when I was in film school. That movie, for me, brought back blood to cinema. I was so happy; that movie was a revelation. I thought it was the greatest movie because it was the first movie where I had seen a dialogue where the criminals were not just talking about the plot. The characters were actually real people. You could see it once and quote it for the rest of your life; I'd never seen anything like it. So I actually got to show that to Quentin a couple of years ago and I told him that this was pre 'Pulp Fiction.' I said, "I was the original Tarantino rip-off. Everyone was ripping you off after 'Pulp Fiction' but I was ripping you off in my student film for 'Reservoir Dogs.'"

When you made 'Restaurant Dogs' did you ever think there was a chance you would one day be in a couple of Tarantino films?

I never thought I'd be in a movie, period. I thought I would do random Alfred Hitchcock walk-ons and fans that knew me would recognize me and that would be it. Even in 'Cabin Fever' I wasn't supposed to play that part. I had an actor that cancelled at the last minute and I'd been reading [the part] in rehearsals and it was the other actors that were like, "you've got to do it; you've got to do it." And that was the reason Quentin cast me in 'Death Proof.' So clearly I've always wanted to do it and I've always enjoyed performing but I never had a reason to really take it seriously. I always did it in such a safe way that it was never actually really acting, it was just goofing around. Quentin sort of gave me this challenge, He said, "you really have a talent here that you're not taking seriously and I'm going to give you a reason to take it seriously." I love acting but directing's my passion.

And you got a chance to direct a scene in 'Inglourious Basterds.'

I said, "Look, I don't want to just sit around because there's going to be long stretches where my character's not in it. If there's anything you need shot, let me do it." Quentin said, "You know, I've never done that but let me think about it." Two days later he says, "Get your ass on a plane, you're going to shoot 'Nations Pride.'" It was like 'Grindhouse' where he does the big movie and I do the little movie.

And he just needed something but then you turn in one of the greatest Nazi propaganda movies ever filmed.

His exact direction to me was, "just get me some shots of guns firing to cover up for the gun shot in the cinema." That was all he said. So I came up with all of these bits: The baby carriage, carving the swastika, throwing guys off buildings. I said that this had to look like the greatest propaganda movie ever. If I'm going to do this, I don't want to phone it in. It became my baby.

You had one scene with Christoph Waltz. I know he has a history with German cinema but where you at all thinking where did this guy come from considering how great he was in the film?

He's unbelievable. Quentin would not have made the movie if he had not found Christoph Waltz. There were many, many stars in Hollywood that wanted that role and Quentin wouldn't even consider it because he wanted a native German speaker. And Christoph came in and he just nailed it. We were all a little nervous to do those scenes because Quentin wouldn't let us rehearse with Christoph; he wanted us all to be terrified of [Waltz's character] Landa. When he busted out that Italian, we of course had no idea he was going to do that. So when I do that slow burn to Brad [Pitt] it was like, "Oh God, we're fucked."

You mentioned 'Grindhouse.' Are you actually making 'Thanksgiving'?

Not yet, but it is something I'm working on. I'm finishing the script for my sci-fi film, 'Endangered Species,' and I want to do that and 'Thanksgiving' back-to-back and have one roll right into the other.

Are you going to just use the trailer that was in 'Grindhouse'?

I want to use pieces of it, for sure. I think we have to. I'm trying to write the movie and also write those scene into it.

Before you were in film school, what film influences you the most at a young age?

'Star Wars.' When I was a kid I was completely 100% 'Star Wars' obsessed. Then 'Jaws' and 'The Exorcist,' also. I go through phases but the movie that actually changed my life was 'Star Wars.' All I could think about was when the next one was coming out. Then 'Return of the Jedi' came out and then we wondered if there was going to be a prequel. Which is so cool to have John Dykstra do the visual effects on 'Inglourious Basterds' because he created the lightsaber and the TIE fighter and X-Wing; he was the visual effects supervisor on 'Star Wars.' It was really incredible to come to a place in my life where I could completely geek out. I've been to the Skywalker Ranch and I was completely star struck around [George Lucas]; I didn't even know what to say. I don't want to be another one of those nerds drooling around George Lucas... but I am, I can't help it.