French actress Melanie Laurent was determined to land a role in Quentin Tarantino's new World War II movie INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS because she wanted to avenge the Nazis on behalf of her Jewish family.
Laurent portrays the character of Shosanna Dreyfus in the film, a French-Jewish girl who goes on the run. She later becomes the owner of a cinema and hatches a plan for revenge on the German occupation.
The star admits she has harboured a hatred for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler since learning about her own grandfather's Holocaust history, so she immediately connected with the challenges faced by Dreyfus.
And, after scoring one of the movie's leading roles, she is delighted to be seen as the "face of the Jewish vengeance".
She tells WENN, "When I read the script, I was like, wow, it's been my dream to kill Hitler since I was like four so I was kind of like Shosanna already.
"I'm Jewish. I read the script together with my grandfather and he told me, 'You have to make that movie, please.' So it was not just for me, it was for my family.
"And then he (Tarantino) picked me. I'm the face of the Jewish vengeance. I'm sure my grandfather will love the movie."