The Tarantino Movie Universe Connection: ‘Basterds’ Donny Donowitz Is The Father Of ‘True Romance’s Lee Donowitz

Remember Lee Donowitz (the awesome Saul Rubinek) in “True Romance”? The slimy Hollywood film producer of the fictional Vietnam war film, “Coming Home In A Body Bag”?

According to a Q&A last night with Quentin Tarantino in Austin, Texas, post-“Inglorious Basterds,” screening, Eli Roths’s character Sgt. Donny Donowitz is his father. Quentin obviously loves his universe character connections and you’re probably aware of many of them. This is just the latest.

We can probably tap out some more thoughts about the screening and Q&A later, but we gotta run and just wanted to get that out there. More later. Next day update: Nothing earth shattering that you haven’t heard before, but we thought we’d finish up. When asked about potential sequels and prequels to ‘Basterds,’ Tarantino admitted his follow-up was terrible and that he claimed prequels and sequels would happen on every film he’s ever made so he basically warned the audience not to hold their breath, but said maybe, maybe if the film did well [ed. we wouldn’t count on it].

In discussing the original mini-series version of ‘Basterds,’ Tarantino once again spoke about French director Luc Besson (“The Professional”), who talked him out of the espisodic version of the film because he appealed to Quentin’s ego, telling him he was one of the few directors that made the Frenchman want to go to the cinema. Tarantino said he liked the idea of doing a long-form TV mini-series because it was something that no auteur had attempted, but clearly he had forgotten about Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “The Decalogue” (and Quentin was a big fan too, originally trying persuade Irène Jacob from Kieslowski’s “Red” to take the part of Bruce Willis’ French girlfriend in “Pulp Fiction,” to no avail).

PS, here’s Tarantino listing his Top 20 movies since he started to direct in 1992. If you remotely find him hubristic and obnoxious, you might want to skip this or you might just want to strangle your computer. The best part of it might be when the director calls, M. Night Shyamalan, “M. Night Shamala-ding-dong.” Tarantino says “Matrix 2 & 3” “ruined the mythology” of the Matrix films and therefore bumps down the original “Matrix” on his list because of that and the only filmmaker to find two slots on his list is Boon Jong Ho (“The Host,” “Memories Of Murder”).

Here’s his picks, “Battle Royale,” “Anything Else, “Audition,” “Blade,” “Boogie Nights,” “Dazed & Confused,” “Dogville,” “Fight Club,” “Friday,” “The Host,” “The Insider,” “Joint Security Area,” “Lost In Translation,” “The Matrix,” Memories of Murder,” “Police Story 3,” “Shaun of the Dead,” “Speed,” “Team America,” “Unbreakable.”