Brad Pitt is confirmed to star in Quentin Tarantino's WWII drama remake INGLORIOUS BASTARDS for Weinstein Co. and Universal, per VARIETY.
Production starts October 13 in Germany. Tarantino also wrote the script, and intends for the film to be ready for next year's Cannes Film Festival. Producers are Lawrence Bender and Erica Steinberg; exec producers are Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
The deal puts Pitt back into Universal's stables, patching things up apparently from his last-minute exit from STATE OF PLAY last year.
Pitt will play a Tennessee hillbilly who assembles a team of eight Jewish-American soldiers who go on a suicide mission into Berlin in the waning days of the war. Casting for the remaining seven soldiers should be complete in a week or two, although Eli Roth has been locked into the role of Sgt. Donnie Donowitz. Simon Pegg, David Krumholtz and B.J. Novak are in talks to join the project. Pegg would play a British lieutenant with Krumholtz and Novak would play Pitt's underlings.
German actress Nastassja Kinski is in early talks to play a German movie queen, one of the film's few female roles. Tarantino regular Tim Roth will be unable to join the cast because of his work on upcoming TV series LIE TO ME.
Pitt had a small but memorable role as a stoner in Tony Scott's TRUE ROMANCE, scripted by Tarantino between RESERVOIR DOGS and PULP FICTION, but this is his first time under the direction of Tarantino.
