Bloody hell, mates. This week, I’ve been struck with a horrid non-smoker’s version of a smoker’s cough and am, presently, attempting to stop cursing, just for a few moments, to bring you the latest tidbits concerning Inglourious Basterds. Lately, there hasn’t really been much news spilling forth from the set in Germany, since things are obviously going to be very hush-hush until much later in the production phase. However, many hardcore QT geeks have been poring over the various set pictures and whatnot from the set of the “flim within the film,” and QT himself has been conspicuously absent from this visual media, which is rather unusual, given that so many pictures of exist of QT squinting into the camera for his other films. Well, that’s because someone else has been directing this part of Basterds, according to Tarantino.info:

The reason we didn’t see Quentin Tarantino in a “where’s Waldo” fashion somewhere in that footage or these pictures is simply, that he didn’t in fact direct it. Eli Roth did. That’s right, none other than “the Bear Jew” was the guest director for the “film within the film”, [sic] which stars Daniel Brühl as a Nazi sniper and GIs on a suicide mission.

So, while Eli has been doing all the heavy lifting lately, exactly what the hell has Quentin been doing? Certainly, the dude’s been busy with other facets of production, the secrets of which mere mortals could never possibly comprehend. However, QT has been spotted coaching Til Schweiger on how to spit, as opposed to, you know, how to swallow. Rowrr.