--- description: From Django Unchained's Django to Kill Bill's Beatrix Kiddo, Quentin Tarantino is known for his strong characters. This is his favorite. title: Quentin Tarantino Says This Role Is the Best Character He's Ever Written image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Quentin Tarantino Thinks This Role Is the Best Character He's Ever Written  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Jul 11, 2016 8:13 PM CUT  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Jul 11, 2016 8:13 PM CUT From [_Django Unchained_‘s](http://time.com/4126299/will-smith-tarantino-django-unchained/ "undefined") Django ([Jamie Foxx](http://time.com/4354607/jamie-foxx-white-famous-showtime/ "undefined")) to [_Kill Bill_‘s](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,349193,00.html "undefined") Beatrix Kiddo (Uma Thurman), [Quentin Tarantino](http://time.com/4086494/quentin-tarantino-protest-police-brutality/?utm%5Fsource=feedburner&utm%5Fmedium=feed&utm%5Fcampaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29 "undefined") is known for his films’ strong characters. But while speaking at the Jerusalem Film Festival Friday, the 53-year-old director revealed that one role stands out to him: _Inglourious Basterds_‘ Col. Hans Landa, played by Christoph Waltz. “Landa is the best character I’ve written and maybe the best I ever will write,” Tarantino said, according to [Screen Daily](http://www.screendaily.com/news/quentin-tarantino-thrills-jerusalem-festival-audience/5106611.article "undefined"). “I didn’t realize \[when I was first writing him\] that he was a linguistic genius. He’s probably one of the only Nazis in history who could speak perfect Yiddish.” > [](https://twitter.com/wildwest%5Fstudio/status/752555559165972480) However, Tarantino also spoke about how difficult casting the character was, even admitting that he thought about abandoning the movie before he met Waltz. “I was getting worried,” he said. “Unless I found the perfect Landa, I was going to pull the movie. I gave myself one more week and then I was going to pull the plug. Then Christoph Waltz came in and it was obvious that he was the guy; he could do everything. He was amazing, he gave us our movie back.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4401701/quentin-tarantino-best-character-hans-landa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4401701/quentin-tarantino-best-character-hans-landa/"},"headline":"Quentin Tarantino Thinks This Role Is the Best Character He's Ever Written","datePublished":"2016-07-11T20:13:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:10:43.672Z","description":"And reveals how difficult it was to cast","url":"https://time.com/4401701/quentin-tarantino-best-character-hans-landa/","keywords":["movies","quentin tarantino"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4401701/quentin-tarantino-best-character-hans-landa/","name":"Quentin Tarantino Thinks This Role Is the Best Character He's Ever Written"}}]}] ```