SPOILERS AHEAD!
Atomic Popcorn: So, how honored did you feel when you read in the script that you were going to be the man to blow away Hitler?
Eli is a Basterd
Roth: Oh, it was an incredible honor! It certainly was an honor that I took very seriously, that was actually not originally in the the script. That was something that came about when we were shooting. So it was actually even more of an honor, in fact, because as we were shooting, Quentin adapts to what he likes as things going on, and he was so happy with what I was doing as The Bear Jew and the scene where we were beating Rachtman, he just loved the scene where I was kicking ass, then I shot Nation’s Pride, the film within the film, and Quentin realized that, “Wait a minute, Eli is shooting all the action stuff!” Like, we fired so many thousands of bullets in two days of shooting Nation’s Pride, and I was, like, ‘DUDE! We have machine guns and 30 guys firing!” and he’s like, “Wait a minute, we got machine guns?” And over Christmas he rewrote it and he [said], “I made a little change.” And I read it and it was, “Donnie kicks open the door and shoots Hitler in the face”, and I was like “WOOOHOOO!” (Laughter) I was so happy, it was amazing, I was gonna be the new Moses.
Atomic Popcorn: How many times did you have to film the scene when you’re beating this guy to death with the baseball bat, how many time did you have to do that?
Roth: We shot that a number of times… we spent 5 or 6 days shooting it, and it was the first thing we shot. So I was back in this cave, working myself up, ready to kill, and then, “ANNND Cut! That’s it for the day!” and I was, like, “Ugh!” but Brad was, like, “Easy, Tiger!” I asked them to put up a pull-up bar and a punching bag so I can stay loose. So I was, for days, working myself up, and… we never get to it, and I worked myself up to the point of tears and then never get to shoot it and I go “Quentin! You’re blue ballin’ me everyday!” – but he’s doing it on purpose. Finally we get to the scene, and I was ready to explode, and I just unloaded on this guy and it was great when I finally beat him just to get that out and just do it over and over and over, and I just completely blew out my voice and we had to film the reactions of the guys cheering me on.
Atomic Popcorn: We all hear about how costuming can help you get into character. How does the fact that he [Donnie] chooses to wield a baseball bat, rather than a knife or a gun, affect you? How did that help you get into the mind of the character?
Roth: Oh, well I grew up in Boston and let me tell you, you use your baseball bat off the field more than you use it on the field in Boston. I mean, everybody had baseball bats in their cars in Boston, that was like a big thing. …so when I had that bat I thought of that and I thought of those guys who were like, I just wanna smash some s***!” Plus, being in wool underwear will make you wanna kill anything.
Atomic Popcorn: How do you think experience working on this film will change your future attitude towards acting or directing?
Roth: Oh, well it certainly will change the way I write scenes. Always in Hostel, after I did an intense torture scene, I gave the actors a few days off to recover and rest, and I’m glad I did. I can see why you need that. One thing that’s gonna change is how I run my sets. Quentin had a big rule about no phones, computers, Blackberries, nothing on set, and we had a guy who we called “Checkpoint Charlie”, this German guy who’s, like, “Give me your phone.” So it was certain things like that kept the focus. [A]lso when Quentin’s directing you, you give your performance and Quentin turns the camera around, and you’re off-camera acting for the actor. I was, like, “Man! That’s where I came up with all my good stuff!” and he goes, “Dude, it doesn’t matter if you’re Robert DeNiro or Sam Jackson, everybody is more relaxed off camera,” and you’re just better, that’s just how it is. You’re not self-conscious, you don’t second-guess yourself off camera. And if Quentin sees something off-camera that he likes, he’ll stop, he’ll finish this actor, and he’ll re-light, and reshoot you. That’s an example of that and that’s what makes Quentin a great director. Everyone’s on it, full time 100% even though they were before.
Atomic Popcorn: And both of you guys are cinemaphiles obviously. Aldo Raine is a reference to Aldo Ray…
Roth: Yes, and Major Rane from Rolling Thunder.
Atomic Popcorn: Yes…did you try and channel any iconic World War II characters from…
Roth: No. I was channeling people I knew and myself, but it’s interesting how there’s certain things that you don’t realize that you’re channeling – just influences that get in there, I wasn’t consciously.
Atomic Popcorn: Were there any other roles you were interested in? That you would like to get a shot at?
Roth: No. The only role for me was The Bear Jew. I was like “This is it.” I mean, to be a Jewish guy from Boston that just beats Nazis to death with a baseball bat, I’ve been training my whole life for that part. And that’s what they said to us, “This is it!” …there’s no such thing as a small part in a Tarantino film. Every part is a chance to create a classic cinema moment, and that’s what everybody is going for, the first table read, you look around the room and see Christoph Waltz, and August Diel who plays Major Hellstrom, and all of these incredible European actors like Melanie Laurent. You felt like “God, this movie’s gonna be amazing! It’s gonna be something so special, and so different.” It was just a thrill to be a part of it.
Atomic Popcorn: And you were the only one to get an entrance.
Roth: Well, Hugo Sigletz got his entrance. He got the title freeze frame. He got a really cool entrance. Til Schweiger, who is also a great director. Til’s very interesting ’cause he made this movie called Keinohrhasen, which is “Rabbit Without Ears”. It’s the most successful movie in Germany, it was bigger than Harry Potter and Pirates Of The Caribbean.
Atomic Popcorn: Thank you.
Roth: Alright, thanks you guys.
