I did True Romance, which he wrote, and we were in each other's periphery from time to time. I was told he had this thing that he'd been writing for eight years, and he originally wrote the part for himself. Somewhere along the way he decided that I would make sense in it, and he put it my way. [laughs] I always had a feeling we'd work together!

So he came out to see me and we cracked open a bottle of wine -- because I was in the south of France -- and had a laugh and talked about film from A to Z, as you enjoy doing with him. I'm not sure how much of the movie we got through that night, but it's one of the best scripts I've read.

Brad Pitt and I wanted to work together for a long time and this was just the right time, completely. I didn't really consider anybody else -- he was one of the first people to read the script. After I finished it, two days later I sent him a copy. And it was cool, because he was waiting for it.

If I hadn't have found the right Col. Landa I would have pulled the plug on the movie. I just wouldn't have made the movie, because Landa's a linguistic genius.

I walked into the audition and we did a reading together. No cameras, no pressure, we were just playing, and Quentin's so great at making you feel at ease, because that really is the basis. You need to feel safe, and then things can develop. We started playing, like two kids in a room, and we went through the whole script. That was there the ball started rolling.

After I walked out of the first session, I said to the casting agent in Berlin, 'Look, if that's it, it will have been more than just worthwhile. Thank you!' And when Quentin called me back for a second audition, I said, 'I feel exactly the same, only now it's 200 per cent better.' And a few days later I got the call.