Tarantino Hints at 'Inglourious Basterds' Prequel

There's a great big new article in The New York Times about Quentin Tarantino's upcoming WWII flick, Inglourious Basterds. It's playing at Cannes pretty soon and will debut in U.S. theaters in August. Like all things Tarantino, it was getting a lot of hype months before it was even completed. Cannes loves the guy, so that might not be the most objective barometer of whether or not Basterds is really as good as people want and expect it to be. But if it is good and if it's a smash hit, Tarantino may be interested in continuing the story. Although you can never take him at his word about upcoming projects because he's prone to getting sidetracked, QT tells the Times, “I have a half-written prequel ready to go if this movie’s a smash.” That prequel would involve African-American soldiers stuck behind enemy lines, a part of the Basterds script that the writer-director excised from the movie we're about to see. That sounds a bit like Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna, but hopefully if Tarantino follows through on the prequel it would have more energy and less self-importance. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's a great read, though, and Tarantino certainly jumps off the page in interviews; his exuberance is hard to ignore. There have also been a couple new character posters added to the Basteds gallery over the past couple of days, so add these to your collection: