Inglourious Basterds is a 2009 American war film written and directed by Quentin

Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger, Michael Fassbe
nder and Eli Roth. The film tells the fictional alternate history story of two p
lots to assassinate Nazi Germany's political leadership, one planned by a young
French Jewish cinema proprietor, and the other by a team of Jewish-American sold
iers led by First Lieutenant Aldo Raine. The film's title was inspired by direct
or Enzo G. Castellari's macaroni combat film, The Inglorious Bastards (1978).
Tarantino wrote the script in 1998 but struggled with the ending and chose to ho
ld off filming and direct the two-part film Kill Bill. After directing Death Pro
of in 2007 (as part of the double feature Grindhouse), Tarantino returned to wor
k on Inglourious Basterds. A co-production of the United States and Germany, the
film began principal photography in October 2008 and was filmed in Germany and
France with a $75 million production budget. Inglourious Basterds premiered on M
ay 20, 2009, at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. It was widely released in theater
s in the United States and Europe in August 2009 by The Weinstein Company and Un
iversal Pictures.