While bigger names may be circling the film, the first actor to actually sign on for Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Bastards" may be a fellow director.

According to Variety, Eli Roth is in talks to play Sgt. Donnie Donowitz in the WWII ensemble film. The trade paper describes the character as "a baseball bat-swinging Nazi hunter."

Brad Pitt is still in talks to play Aldo Raine, the leader of the group of Jewish-American soldiers on a revenge mission in Nazi-occupied France. The trade notes, though, that Tarantino is no longer interested in having Leonardo DiCaprio play SS Col. Hans Landa, looking instead at German actors for the role.

"Inglorious Bastards," a Universal and Weinstein Company co-production, will begin shooting in Europe this fall.

Roth and Tarantino have a long-standing friendship and creative partnership. Tarantino lent his name to Roth's "Hostel," while Roth had a cameo in Tarantino's "Death Proof" and also helmed one of the parody trailers that played with the "Grindhouse" double-bill.