In a story from Variety, apparently Quentin Tarantino loves the Cannes Film Festival so much that his reason for completing Inglourious Basterds had to do with readying the film for its premiere there.

In eight months the director shot and edited Inglourious Basterds from a 165 page script. No small feat considering this is a World War II drama.

"I'm expecting this to be one of the high moments of my career." He said of Basterds which debuts this Wednesday at the festival.

Tarantino won Palme D'Or at the 1994 festival for Pulp Fiction.

"There is nothing like it in cinema," he says about the festival. "Nobody has seen your film. It's a wet print, fresh out of the lab. The entire world film press is here, and they all see it, at one time. The greatest film critics in the world, who are still critics, and they're all fighting and debating it. When you think back on your career, it comes down to these high moments. That level of excitement is unparalleled."

Inglourious Basterds had a 10-week production schedule. It's current run time is 2 hours and 27 minutes.

"Directors in my situation don't normally go this direction, especially when they're doing something really big. If you have three days scheduled for a scene, it's easy to (add) the fourth day. It's nice to have all the time you need, but when you slow down, I think that marbled fat is felt in the pacing. I didn't want easy and comfortable and I do feel that energy is evident on the screen." The Director offers.

As for working with a mega-star like Brad Pitt? "Brad is an actor I treated just like the other actors, who happens to be this huge movie star. But he is such perfect casting for this character that if Brad Pitt wasn't famous, I'd have lobbied for him to have the role." Tarantino stated.