Eli Roth, the horror-movie director who created a film-within-a-film in the new picture Inglourious Basterds, was asked by Time Out New York about how the experience affected him:
QUESTION: You directed a fake Nazi propaganda film that airs in the middle of Inglourious Basterds. Was that the most twisted thing you’ve ever made?
ANSWER: I thought I had made some horrific movies before, but there I was, filming that propaganda movie, Nation’s Pride. The whole thing is this guy in a bell tower shooting American soldiers and it’s all supposed to be about the glory of Hitler and the power of the swastika.
I’m in the scene where they watch the movie. So there I am, a Jewish director, sitting with 300 Nazi extras watching this movie and going crazy. They’re in character and acting, but hearing them yell “Heil Hitler!” and “Kill the Jews!” in German, my stomach dropped. I looked at Quentin [director Quentin Tarantino] and said, “What have I done? Did I just start the Fourth Reich? This movie is going to reignite the Nazi party and they’re going to make me their Sarah Palin!”
