"U" for "UberBingo" | Hilarious Clapper Outtakes from 'Inglorious Basterds'

Inglorious Basterds clapboard used by Geraldine Brezca

The DVD/Blu-ray release of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds features a hilarious "clapper" special feature (see below). A clapboard is a device used to assist in the synchronizing of picture and sound; and to mark particular scenes and takes. A clapboard operator announces the scene numbers before each take on a film set . For the letters following the scene numbers, the clapboard operator usually employs the International Radio Operator Alphabet (example, scene 21a would be “scene twenty one alpha” and scene 140c would be “Scene One Forty Charlie”).

Most film sets are usually very stressful and tense. Every idle minute that passes can cost the production thousands of dollars. The video montage below shows a crazy fun vibe on the Inglorious Basterds set.



The foul-mouthed Italian clapboard operator Geraldine Brezca has been working with Tarantino since Jackie Brown, and has developed her own unique, awesome and crazy style, which is why she has become “Tarantino’s Camera Angel”.

Throughout all his acceptance speeches Christoph Waltz couldn't thank Tarantino enough for the privilege of working on the "unorthodox" Inglorious Basterds film set! Check out his Oscar® acceptance speech and Oscar® Nominees Luncheon press call comments.

Happy Birthday Quentin!

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QUENTIN TARANTINO TO BE HONORED OPENING NIGHT OF 5TH ANNUAL LOS ANGELES --ITALIA FILM FASHION & ART FEST, SUN FEB. 28, 2010

Academy Award® winning director Quentin Tarantino will be honored at the opening of The 5th Annual Los Angeles – Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest, Sun., Feb 28, 9:45 p.m. at The Mann Chinese 6 Theatre. it was announced today by Festival Founder and Executive Producer Pascal Vicedomini.

Singled out for his commitment in promoting world cinema, Tarantino will be presented with ‘The L.A. Award 2010’ by Enzo G. Castellari, director of the original Inglorious Bastards (1978) and the inspiration for his own Inglourious Basterds, the recipient of eight Oscar nominations, including Best Director, Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

In honoring Tarantino, the presentation of ‘The L.A. Award 2010’ will take place between the 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. screenings of Castellari’s Inglorious Bastards and Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. LA Italia salutes Tarantino as an ‘ambassador to world cinema,’ recognizing his achievement in creating a film whose story is conveyed in three languages, bridging film communities worldwide. Joining Castellari in the ceremony will be actor Franco Nero, the Consul General Nicola Faganello, and the Director of Italian Institute of Culture in Los Angeles, Francesca Valente. LA Italia gives special thanks to Honorary Board members and Inglourious Basterds executive producer Harvey Weinstein and producer Lawrence Bender for their role in creating this memorable evening.

“Quentin Tarantino’s incredible talent, imagination and artistry have been a constant inspiration to filmmakers worldwide,” says producer Pascal Vicedomini. “It is our privilege to present ‘The LA Award 2010’ to Tarantino while also being able to highlight the inspiration provided to him from Italian director Castellari’s work – and with back to back screenings – what a rare treat!”

The 5th Annual Los Angeles – Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest (Feb. 28-March 6) is a week of screenings, symposia and special musical events at The Mann Chinese Theatre complex at Hollywood & Highland that showcases the best of Italy’s contribution to the arts, with an authentic Italian style and spirit.

Among the many additional Fest highlights include: A salute to Grammy® winning international singing superstar Andrea Bocelli and Grammy winning producer David Foster on Mon., March 1, 6:30 p.m. at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. LA Italia will also celebrate with Bocelli as he receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, March 2, 11:15 a.m.

LA Italia presents ten US and three Los Angeles premieres of Italian feature films and documentaries, including Academy Award winner Gabriele Salvatore’s Happy Family, director/producer/screenwriter Pupi Avati’s The Youngest Son and director Luca Gadagnino’s I Am Love.

In addition to the Tarantino tribute, opening day at LA Italia will also feature the Los Angeles premieres of Enrico Mattei, The Man Who Looked to the Future, directed by Giorgio Capitani and Memories of Anne Frank, Reflections of a Childhood Friend, directed by Alberto Negrin. Enrico Mattei, which tells the story of the first Italian man in the post-war period, to believe his country could play a key rule in world affairs is produced by Lux Vide and Rai Fiction in association with Eni. The film’s star, Massimo Ghini will be in attendance. To be introduced by Oscar-winner Steven Zaillian, Memories of Anne Frank, based on a book by American writer Alison Leslie Gold, chronicles the friendship between Frank and Hanneli Goslar in Amsterdam before WWII. It is an Italian-American co-production by Fulvio Lucisano and Avi Lerner.

LA Italia will also proudly salute this year’s Italian artists who have received Academy Awards nominations, including:

• Mauro Fiore, Best Cinematography for his work on director James Cameron’s worldwide box office phenomenon, Avatar.

• Aldo Signoretti & Vittorio Sodan, Best Makeup for the Italian feature-film Il Divo, directed by Paolo Sorrentino. The two make-up artists previously garnered nominations for Apocalypto (2007) and Moulin Rouge (2002).

• Marco Beltrami, Best Original Score, The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

• Alessandro Camon, Best Original Screenplay), a shared credit with Oren Moverman, The Messenger, directed by Moverman.

• Michael Giacchino, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score for Up, directed by Pete Docter

Coinciding with the 82nd Academy Awards, The 5th Los Angeles Italia – Film, Fashion and Art Festival, chaired by Oscar-winner Bobby Moresco (Crash), is produced under the direction of Pascal Vicedomini by The Capri in the World Institute in association with CIM Group-USA, the Consul General of Italy and the Italian Institute of Culture in Los Angeles. It is sponsored and organized in collaboration Eni (the Italian multinational oil and gas company) and Rai Trade with the support of the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Embassy in the USA and the Campania Region of Italy.

Italian-American screenwriter and Oscar winning director Bobby Moresco (Crash) and noted Italian producer Aurelio De Laurentiis serve as Festival Chairmen. Co-Chairs are Marina Cicogna, Franco Nero, Shaul Kuba (CIM Group) and Jack and Leslie Kavanaugh. Golden Globe-winning and Oscar-nominated composer Tony Renis is Festival President. Joining in the festivities will be prominent members of the Los Angeles and International film communities and celebrity friends.

Screenings and programs are offered at no charge to the public – admission is on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, please visit LosAngelesItalia.com

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Christoph Waltz to Play Scary Paranoid Schizophrenic in "Water for Elephants"

Christoph Waltz, the disarmingly evil Nazi "Jew Hunter" Col. Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's World War II-set fairy tale, Inglourious Basterds delivers an unforgettable performance as one of the great villains of our time, a man who is at once thoroughly likable and unapologetically ruthless. The Oscar and a BAFTA nominee has joined Francis Lawrence’s Water For Elephants. He’ll be working alongside Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson in the adaptation of Sara Gruen’s novel.

The story follows a rundown circus during the Depression era, with Pattinson playing a veterinary student who falls in love with the circus' star performer (Witherspoon), wife of a paranoid schizophrenic animal trailer.

Waltz plays the scary paranoid schizophrenic. It’s a reportedly violent role, with the character treating his creatures with as much savagery as he treats his wife.

Previously, Sean Penn had been linked to the role but we're glad Waltz will be sinking his teeth into the part, especially after his great turn in Basterds

PLOT
Orphaned and penniless at the height of the Depression, Jacob Jankowski escapes everything he knows by jumping on a passing train—and inadvertently runs away with the circus. So begins Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen’s darkly beautiful tale about the characters who inhabit the less-than-greatest show on earth.

Jacob finds a place tending the circus animals, including a seemingly untrainable elephant named Rosie. He also comes to know Marlena, the star of the equestrian act—and wife of August, a charismatic but cruel animal trainer. Caught between his love for Marlena and his need to belong in the crazy family of travelling performers, Jacob is freed only by a murderous secret that will bring the big top down.

We hope Waltz isn't getting type cast already. Perhaps he will play the lead in a singing, dancing, romcom musical one day. Bingo!

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Source: IMDB.com

Christoph Waltz Live & In-Person: 'Inglorious Basterds' FREE Screening and Q&A --Arclight Sherman Oaks, Dec 2nd at 7:00 p.m.

On Wed., Dec. 2nd at 7 p.m., Back Stage, The Hollywood Reporter and The Weinstein Company cordially invite you and a guest to An Evening With... "Inglourious Basterds," a free special screening of the film to be followed by a conversation with cast member Christoph Waltz.

The film, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, follows a group of Jewish-American soldiers, known as "The Basterds," intent on brutally killing Nazis. A young Jewish woman, who once escaped death at the hands of the chilling Colonel Hans Landa (Waltz), is thrown into the midst of a perilous plot involving the Basterds, a beloved German actress, and the movie theatre she runs.

The ensemble cast also includes Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Mélanie Laurent, and Daniel Brühl.

Christoph Waltz won the award for Best Actor at this year's Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of Col. Landa and is slated to star as the villain Chudnofsky in the upcoming "Green Hornet" film, starring Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz.

The screening will take place at 7 p.m. at:
Arclight Sherman Oaks
1501 Ventura Blvd.,
Los Angeles 91403

RSVP Required. To RSVP, call 424-203-0877 or email inglouriousbasterdsbackstage@gmail.com, indicating how many are in your party. Photo ID required for admittance.

As a courtesy to your fellow actors, please do not RSVP for this screening if you do not intend to stay for the Q&A portion of the evening. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. Seating is on a first-come/first-serve basis. A reservation does not guarantee admittance.

Here's a chance to see Christoph Waltz, the biggest Oscar® buzz actor this awards season, live and in-person. I predict Waltz will win the "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar®, and Golden Globe Award.

Reserve your seats now!

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Source: BackStage.com

'Inglorious Basterds' Kicks Ass! [Review]

Inglorious Basterds begins with "Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France..." an opening scene set in the French countryside, where we are introduced to the dreaded Nazi Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), a heinous murderer and scheming genius who refers to himself as a the "Jew hunter.'' Landa can make sipping a glass of milk or indulging in an apple strudel with whipped cream seems like an ominous, treacherous ordeal.

Lt. Aldo Raines, is played by Brad Pitt with a nice scar and a Tennesseean good-ol'-boy accent. Raines has assembled a group of Jewish-American soldiers named after an obscure 1978 Italian exploitation picture, to infiltrate enemy lines and make Nazis suffer for their crimes. He orders his men to bring back 100 Nazi scalps each.

"We will be cruel to the Germans,'' Raine reasons, "and through our cruelty, they will know who we are.''

The Basterds create a mythology about themselves, roaming the French countryside and killing without mercy, only saving a few survivors to tell the tale of the Basterds. These survivors often have a swastika carved into their foreheads, so that after the war they will never forget what they've done.

Part of the beauty of Inglourious Basterds is the speed and suddenness with which Tarantino masterfully shift gears from laughter to horror.

There are even more plots going on in the movie including the cinema owner Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), whose family was slaughtered by the Germans in the opening scene, is now living incognito in Paris where she runs a movie theater. Her cinema is selected by Frederick Zoeller (Daniel Bruhl) to premiere a movie based on his war exploits. It is expected that many leaders of the Third Reich will be in attendance, including Mr. Adolf Hitler. The Basterds plan to hit the theater and end the war in one swift stroke

Diane Kruger plays the German actress Bridget von Hammersmark who is working as an undercover agent for the British, and Michael Fassbender's plays Archie Hickox, the British operative sent to join Raines and his crew. Tarantino does a long, suspenseful sequence inside a tavern in which the two are part of a rowdy drinking game which turns serious, and then gets real ugly when a German major makes a surprise entrance.

Til Schweiger plays the badass Hugo Stiglitz, the German former SS member of the Basterds. His character backstory is presented before you, in a style that is purely Tarantino, complete with self-conscious voiceover narration by Samuel L. Jackson.

Mike Myers makes a wonderfully quirky cameo appearance in the film as British General Ed French. Myers' cameo fulfilled a childhood dream. His mother was in the air force and his dad was in the British army. He always wanted to be the British general who explains the mission, and in this movie he gets to live the dream.

Tarantino gets strong performances from his actors that match the story he's taking his time telling. Christoph Waltz's standout performance in his wickedly seductive portrayal of monstrous evil is worthy of an Oscar nomination!

Harvey Weinstein (The Weinstein Co.) (left)
Christoph Walz (Nazi Col. Hans Landa)

Tarantino once again incorporates the "Chapter structure" of his previous films. Cinematographer Robert Richardson paints a gorgeous landscape which is punctuated with spectacular music choices, including David Bowie's audacious kick-ass 'Cat People (putting Out the Fire)', and titles from Ennio Morricone. The soundtrack is available from the iTunes music store.

I love Inglorious Basterds! This bizarre hybrid of WWII movies and spaghetti westerns had me on the edge of my seat right from the beginning until the outrageous, combustible finale inside a movie theater which gives WWII an alternative ending. War has never been so much fun. A must see!

Inglorious Basterds explodes onto big screens on August 21, 2009.

Cast: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers.

Writer-director: Quentin Tarantino.

Producer: Lawrence Bender.

A Weinstein Co. release. Running time: 152 minutes. Vulgar language, considerable violence, heavy gore, sexual situations, adult themes. In English, German, French and Italian with English subtitles.