Christoph Waltz seemed to be born to play Hans Landa movie role Check out Why. Quentin Tarantino was five days away from calling off Inglourious Basterds, a movie that took him over a decade to write. Why? Because he couldn’t find an actor for the part of Hans Landa, the deliciously menacing SS Colonel.
That Tarantino was prepared to suspend the movie he once described as his ‘masterpiece in the making’ says all we need to know about the importance of this casting.
Before I wax poetic about Waltz, I want to underscore why this particular casting is such a triumph.
This question has about 700 answers, and I’m certain the likes of Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine have been mentioned umpteen times. However, I don’t necessarily think they were ‘born for the part.’ They moulded the part to their personality and did an excellent job.
Tony Stark wasn’t a quippy motor mouth; that was all Downey Jr. Comic book characters are malleable to an extent. RDJ’s interpretation was fantastic, but that role could have been played by other actors as well, who would have put their own spin on it. Ditto for Wolverine.
However, with Tarantino’s writing, there’s no room for manoeuvring. He writes precise characters and doesn’t appreciate when his actors go off script. It’s his way or the highway.
That’s precisely why it was so hard for him to find an actor to play Landa; an actor who could embody his masterful yet meticulous creation.
Hans Landa is one of the greatest characters I have ever written, and one of the greatest characters that I will ever write. - Quentin Tarantino
Enter Christoph Waltz.
It was evident to everyone who watched the first scene, which by the way, is a masterclass in tension, that we were seeing something extraordinary unfold in front of our eyes. That impact was reinforced because virtually no one knew who Waltz was, he didn’t arrive with any baggage.
For the audience, there was no Waltz, only Landa.
Landa was such a peculiar character in everything from his eccentricities to his tenor. It’s practically inconceivable to imagine anyone else playing the part. Waltz acted the pants off everyone in the movie, and this is a movie that had Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender. The entire cast was excellent, but Waltz was operating on a different level altogether.
Waltz was indeed ‘born to play the part.’ Without him, the movie wouldn’t exist. Further, he also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.
“You gave me my movie.” – Tarantino to Waltz at the Cannes Film Festival, where he won Best Actor.
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