Inglourious Basterds Commences Principal Photography

Inglourious Basterds Commences Principal Photography

International Cast Assembles in Germany for Writer and Director Quentin Tarantino

NEW YORK, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds began principal photography last week on location in Germany. The ensemble cast of Inglourious Basterds includes Brad Pitt, 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 and Cloris Leachman.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081017/NY39857 )

Inglourious Basterds reunites Tarantino with Academy Award-nominated editor Sally Menke, Academy Award-winning director of photography Bob Richardson, and production designer David Wasco. Joining Tarantino for the first time is Academy Award-nominated costume designer Anna Sheppard.

Academy Award-nominee Lawrence Bender is producing Inglourious Basterds. Erica Steinberg and Lloyd Phillips, and Bob and Harvey Weinstein are the film's executive producers. The co-producers are Charlie Woebcken, Christoph Fisser and Henning Molfenter. Pilar Savone is the associate producer.

The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures, through its newly formed International Studio, are co-financing and co-presenting the film with TWC handling domestic distribution and Universal handling international distribution. The two companies are partners on the project.

Zehnte Babelsberg Film, a subsidiary of Studio Babelsberg AG, is producing Inglourious Basterds. The film will shoot at Studio Babelsberg as well as in Berlin, Saxony and Paris.

Inglourious Basterds begins in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie 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...

Inglourious Basterds will be released worldwide in 2009.

About The Weinstein Company

The Weinstein Company (TWC) was created by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films Corporation in 1979. TWC is a multi-media company that officially launched on October 1, 2005. Dimension Films, the genre label that was founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, is also included under the TWC banner.

During the Weinsteins' tenure at Miramax Films the company released some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful independent feature films which received 249 Academy Award(R) nominations and won 60 Oscars(R), have generated billions of dollars in worldwide box office receipts and billions more in home video sales. In its history, Dimension Films has released some of the most successful franchises including Scream, Spy Kids, and Scary Movie.

About Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures is a division of Universal Studios (www.universalstudios.com). Universal Studios is part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80% owned by General Electric, with 20% controlled by Vivendi.

About Studio Babelsberg

Studio Babelsberg is the oldest large-scale studio complex in the world and one of Europe's leading service providers for feature films and TV productions. For over 95 years, film history has been made in Studio Babelsberg. Countless renowned filmmakers have worked with Studio Babelsberg, engaging the studio to produce small and big films. With a complete set of services that make Studio Babelsberg a one-stop-shop, the studio employs one of the best crews in the world and is well known for its unique production service, skillful set construction department and huge prop shops. The stages and facilities at Studio Babelsberg were once home to UFA (Universum Film AG), the studio behind many of Germany's most famous films, including Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel, starring Marlene Dietrich.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081017/NY39857
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN11
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: The Weinstein Company

CONTACT: Emily Feingold of The Weinstein Company,
Emily.Feingold@weinsteinco.com, +1-646-862-3824; or Will Casey, Publicist of
Inglourious Basterds Unit, unitpublicity@yahoo.com, +49-331-72-15-600; or Kate
Wyhowska of Universal Pictures, kate.wyhowska@nbcuni.com, +44-207-307-1364

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