Just when I become ambivalent about all the crap that’s currently in theaters, further news drops from the Inglourious Basterds camp. Quentin Tarantino must have this shit rigged up as a time-release capsule of cinematic Prozac or something. Variety now reports that, as planned, Tarantino’s WWII film will compete at next month’s Cannes Film Festival:

Quentin Tarantino’s WWII epic “Inglourious Basterds” is headed to the French Riviera.

The Brad Pitt starrer, set in Nazi-occupied France, has been invited to play in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Insiders said Tarantino, a longtime favorite of the French, has accepted the offer and has told the film’s backers — the Weinstein Co. and Universal Pictures — that the pic will be ready for its world premiere during the May fest . . . .

Tarantino is no stranger to the Palais. The helmer became one of Hollywood’s most in-demand directors after his “Pulp Fiction” won Cannes’ Palme d’Or in 1994.

This year’s fest runs May 13-24.

In the eye candy department, Vanity Fair publishes some photos from its upcoming May issue in a shoot called “Schindler’s List It Ain’t.” In the group shot above, Brad Pitt is definitely representin’ his psycho renegade Lt. Aldo Raine character. Other standouts include Melanie Laurent and Diane Kruger, who will undoubtedly go down as a few of the greatest female characters we’ve seen in a long damn time. On a more subversive note, it actually looks like Eli Roth is about to bite Tarantino’s head off, but I suppose the notion of a Vampire Bear Jew isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. More photos of Pitt and Laurent are below, and visit the VF site for more.

Note: All apologies to the (very) late Francois de la Rochefoucauld for, within this post’s title, abbreviating his full quote:

When great men permit themselves to be cast down by the continuance of misfortune, they show us that they were only sustained by ambition, and not by their mind; so that PLUS a great vanity, heroes are made like other men.