You could tell that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle...

Few people do a red carpet quite like Quentin Tarantino. The manic director shimmied with his “Inglourious Basterds” star Melanie Laurent at the bottom of the Palais steps last night as they waited for the rest of their international cast to show up.

All the “Basterds” were there: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Mike Myers and company. Preceding them up the steps were the likes of Robert Pattinson, Sharon Stone (in a headline-grabbing dress) and Dita von Teese.

Having done my own red carpet stroll a few minutes before the big arrivals, I watched them on a big screen inside the Palais’ Salle Lumiere where the film would be shown.

When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie turned, up the crowd inside the Palais made a collective “ooohhhh.”

Just before they joined QT, et al, you could read Brad’s lips saying to his partner, “Do you want to sign?” and off they went to sign autographs for the thousands of fans who had been lined up in front of the Palais for days hoping for just such a chance.

Then it was the “Basterds’” turn to pose for the photographers on the red carpet while a forlorn (annoyed? bored?) looking Angelina hung back and waited.

After several minutes of photo ops with the team, Pitt hustled back to the bottom of the carpet and picked up Angie for their spin. The crowd inside the Palais then sighed a collective, “Awwww.”

Before you knew it, everyone was in the house - I was just about 6 rows behind them all in fact - and we settled in for the flick.

Our friend Lisa Nesselson has a great take on QT’s “Basterd” brain without giving too much away.

Posted by Nancy