Quentin Tarantino has created many iconic characters throughout his career. This is one of the most memorable SS Standartenführer Hans Landawho appears as a villain in Inglourious Basterds. He is played by Christoph Waltz, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2010 for his performance.
As it turns out, another actor was also interested in the role: Michael Fassbender. Fassbender became known to a wide audience as the X-Men antagonist Magneto. He also starred in indie films like Fish Tank and Shame. He really wanted to play Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds.
Michael Fassbender spent 27 hours preparing for Hans Landa, but Tarantino had long since given away the role
In an interview with Buisness Insider, Fassbender looks back on the casting process for Inglourious Basterds, in which he was ultimately chosen as Lieutenant Archie Hicox was seen and goes into battle against Landa and the Nazis.
Fassbender remembers:
Originally I wanted Landa! I had me about Prepared for Landa for 27 hours. At the time I was filming Fish Tank and my agent said, ‘They want you to look at Hicox too.’ And I said, ‘I won’t have time to do both.’
Fassbender then put all his energy into preparing for the Hans Landa role. At auditions he was caught off guard:
I came into the room and [Quentin] Tarantino said, “Okay, let’s look at Hicox.” I said, ‘Do you think I could read for Landa?’ And he said, ‘I cast Landa on Tuesday.’ I said, ‘Okay, let’s read Hicox.” As Lieutenant Archie Hicox, Michael Fassbender starred in one of Tarantino’s best scenes ever
Fassbender accepted the challenge anyway, even though he was convinced at the time that he had screwed up the casting.
I have [die Rolle] read completely unprepared, and [Tarantino] has the other parts, which was extremely surreal and kind of intimidating. I just tried it and was pretty sure that I screwed up. Afterwards, I immediately called my parents and said, ‘I messed up. I have gathered it.’
Ultimately, he was able to convince Tarantino and delivered one of the strongest performances of his career as Hicox. In the most exciting scene of the film, he looks August Diehl deeply in the eyes and tries to be as calm as possible “Why are you pointing your Walther at my testicles?” to say in broken German.
At that moment you could have heard every needle in the cinema falling to the floor.