I was writing a film criticism book on Sergio Corbucci, the director who did the original Django. So, I was kind of getting immersed in his world. Towards the end of the Inglourious Basterds press tour I was in Japan. Spaghetti Westerns are really popular there, so I picked up a bunch of soundtracks and spent my day off listening to all these scores. And all of a sudden the opening scene just came to me.

I was just this video-store guy and now I was actually making movies and stuff.

The way I write is really like putting one foot in front of the other. I really let the characters do most of the work, they start talking and they just lead the way.

I definitely have some colleagues that I respect, and we get together from time to time. But I actually have just like genuine friends.

He musta thought it was white boy day. It ain't white boy day, is it?

I always wanted to do a movie that deals with America's horrific past with slavery, but the way I wanted to deal with it is - as opposed to doing it as a huge historical movie with a capital H - I thought it could be better if it was wrapped up in genre.

I've always seen in Westerns it described or it's shown very vaguely, but I wanted this - I want us to show what they're doing to them, so you can actually see it. And if you notice in the movie, you know, it goes even beyond just scalping and stuff.