20 Things You Didn't Know About Inglourious Basterds

20. Hicox's Hiccup - The Linguistic Irony Of Michael Fassbender

Right, let's get into this.

Everyone will know that Inglourious Basterds is a multilingual movie; the opening act, Once Upon A Time In Nazi-Occupied France, dives straight into French, English and German.

In fact, volumes of the central plot revolve around the language barrier; the disastrous rendezvous between Michael Fassbender's Lt. Hicox and Bridget Von Hammersmark in a basement tavern is sunk on Hicox's inability to speak German convincingly, despite being fluent.

It's only when a Gestapo officer sniffs a rat in Hicox's peculiar accent that suspicions abound. The three fingered whisky faux pas is just the confirmation that Major Hellstrom needed to point a Luger at Hicox's groin.

There is, however, a wonderful irony to this scene that Quentin Tarantino must have been aware of:

Fassbender is trilingual, fluent in German, Gaelic and English, having been born to German and Irish parents in Germany. English is actually his third language.