While it's arguable that Quentin Tarantino did some 'messed up' things on the set of Inglorious Basterds, it's also safe to say that the 2009 film is one of his best. The movie, which follows multiple storylines set at the tail-end of WW2 is utterly nuts. Of course, it takes massive liberties with history (killing Hitler being the most notable), but that's part of the fun. The entire movie is a thrill-ride with incredible performances, mainly from Quentin's good friend Christoph Waltz, and a type of revenge fantasy for Jewish people after the unspeakable terrors they faced at the hands of Nazi Germany.

The movie has something to say. It's divisive. It's outrageous. It's funny. It's uncomfortable. It's downright entertaining. No wonder people are still trying to dissect it years later. Then again, fans of Quentin Tarantino want to know everything there is to know about how he writes his scripts.

Well, thanks to a superb interview with Ella Taylor at The Village Voice during the release of Inglorious Basterds, we gained some insight into the origin of this piece of art.

Vengeance Was The Center Of His Idea For The Film

During the interview with Ella Taylor (who is Jewish), she thanked him for "dispatching" Hitler in the film. She also told him that she was worried about the depiction of the Jewish people's struggles during WW2 before she saw Inglorious Basterds. After all, the horrors of the Holocaust are among the worst things ever done throughout history. So, it's a sensitive issue... obviously. But Quentin wanted to explore the fantasy of letting out all that anger for what happened and laying waste to those who did it.

While 'evil' doesn't beget 'evil', those feelings of rage and a need for revenge are certainly normal.

"Over the years, when I was coming up with the idea of the American Jews taking vengeance, I would mention it to male Jewish friends of mine, and they were like, 'That’s the movie I want to see. F*** that other story, I wanna see this story,'" Quentin explained in the interview. "Even I get revved up, and I’m not Jewish. When I bought the title of Enzo Castellari’s Inglorious Bastards, which has a good storyline, I thought I might take something from his storyline, but it just never worked out."

It Was Once A Mini-Series

Although Quentin wanted to take more from the 1978 film of the same name, it just didn't pan out that way. As soon as he started writing it (after Jackie Brown), it took its own shape. However, it was originally not going to be a movie.

"I started writing and couldn’t stop; it was turning into a novel or a miniseries. Ideas kept coming to me, and it was becoming more about the page than about this movie I might eventually make. That also happened with Kill Bill, which is why it ended up being two movies. The whole idea of a DVD boxed set is pretty amazing. No writer-director has yet taken advantage of that format, a wonderful one to be a true auteur with."

Related: How Miley Cyrus Helped Eli Roth In Inglourious Basterds

The story had even been divided into chapters, but Quentin put the movie aside to do Kill Bill.

"Then I went to dinner with [filmmaker] Luc Besson and his producing partner. I’m telling them about this miniseries idea, and the producer was right on board. But Luc was like, 'I’m sorry, you’re one of the few directors who actually makes me want to go to the movies. And the idea that I might have to wait five years to go into a theater and see one of your movies is depressing to me.' And once I heard that, I couldn’t un-hear it. I realized that the original story was just too big. Then there was the idea of dealing with a Third Reich cinema, with Goebbels as a studio head making a film called Nation’s Pride, and I got really excited about that."

Related: Mike Myers Reveals Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' Was Shot In Nazi Headquarters

He Didn't Rely On Research... He Was Inspired By Propaganda

Historical accuracy is for different filmmakers... not for Quentin. Specifically, he was inspired by the WW2 propaganda (especially in terms of their movies) and this became a major aspect of both how he constructed the story and the plot itself.

"I was very influenced by Hollywood propaganda movies made during World War II. Most were made by directors living in Hollywood because the Nazis had taken over their countries, like Jean Renoir with This Land Is Mine, or Fritz Lang with Man Hunt, Jules Dassin with Reunion in France, and [Anatole Litvak’s] Confessions of a Nazi Spy—movies like that."

While most of the filmmakers were probably dealing with a lot of stress about the subject --- after all, the war was still raging when they were made -- Quentin was inspired by how entertaining they were.

"They were made during the war, when the Nazis were still a threat, and these filmmakers probably had had personal experiences with the Nazis, or were worried to death about their families in Europe. Yet these movies are entertaining, they’re funny, there’s humor in them. They’re not solemn, like Defiance. They’re allowed to be thrilling adventures."

Next: Netflix Points Out Hilarious Detail Linking 'Get Out' And 'Inglourious Basterds'