Eli Roth on ‘Inglourious Basterds’: “It’s kosher porn”
Filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth aren’t all that dissimilar. Whilst the former may, of course, be far more critically and commercially successful than the latter, the pair share a love for exploitation cinema that accentuates violence, horror and explicit dialogue. Unsurprisingly, the filmmaking duo have worked together on multiple occasions, collaborating for the 2007 film Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds two years later.
Something of a Nazi exploitation movie, Inglourious Basterds told the story of a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers who plot a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders with the help of a local theatre owner. Featuring an ensemble cast that includes the likes of Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Mélanie Laurent, Diane Kruger and Christoph Waltz, the film also starred Eli Roth as Sgt. Donny Donowitz, a vengeful soldier nicknamed ‘The Bear Jew’.
“I had actually somebody else in mind,” Tarantino said in regard to Roth’s role during an interview with The LA Times. Continuing, he adds: “So I was writing for a real Boston guy. And I got to know Eli right before I started writing the script again. Eli is from Boston, and he’s kind of perfect casting. In Death Proof, he did my dialogue as good as anybody else in the movie. And he loved the idea of trying his hand at acting and really being a character”.
Thankfully, Roth was eventually awarded the role and became the director’s “Jewish fact-checker”, according to the actor. Inviting the director to his family home for Passover Seder in 2007, Roth recalled: “We got into these long, philosophical discussions about the Holocaust and slavery, oppression… He asked me, ‘Would a Jew give absolution to a Nazi at the end of the war?’ I said, ‘Never.’ It’s purely a Christian construct. It’s not that we don’t forgive; we don’t forget. Being Jewish is to remember. If I had the chance, I would kill every one of those [Nazis]”.
As well as appearing as the violent ‘Bear Jew’ in Inglourious Basterds, who wields a baseball bat etched with the names of Jewish loved ones who are still in Europe, Roth also briefly features in Tarantino’s exploitation feature film Death Proof. One half of the Grindhouse double-bill Tarantino put together with Robert Rodriguez, Roth appears in the film as Dov in a small supporting role.
“Quentin really pushed me [as an actor],” he told the publication, “He said, ‘Now you can write parts for yourself because you went toe to toe with the best. You acted with Brad Pitt and for me, and you held the screen. You could have another career if you want.’” Despite having had multiple career high points, Roth considers his work with Tarantino on Inglourious Basterds a significant high point.
“I almost died shooting it,” he concludes, “But it’s one of the most satisfying, orgasmic things I’ve done in my life… It’s kosher porn”.
Roth has since gone on to direct a number of modern horror favourites, from the dark cannibal flick, The Green Inferno, inspired by 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust, to the family thriller The House with a Clock in Its Walls.
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