The first image of Brad Pitt from Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds has just arrived online (see below gallery and click to enlarge). In the film, Pitt plays Lt. Aldo Raine, who leads a group of Jewish-American soldiers during WWII called 'The Basterds'. For these men, their job is to track down and viciously murder Nazis in an attempt to provoke fear in the Third Reich. Basterds is currently in production in Germany, and stars Diane Kruger, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Brühl, Eli Roth, Samm Levine, B.J. Novak, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhard, Paul Rust, Michael Bacall, Omar Doom, Sylvester Groth, Julie Dreyfus, Jacky Ido, August Diehl, Martin Wuttke, Richard Sammel, Christian Berkel, Sönke Möhring, Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers, Rod Taylor, Denis Menochet and Cloris Leachman.

Obviously they're wasting no time spreading hype for this flick (but will Tarantino have it done in time for Cannes, like he previously said?). What do you think of Pitt? Doesn't he look dashing ...



And here's the synopsis: Inglourious Basterds begins in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema.

Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as "The Basterds," Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquee, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own...