We get our first glimpse at mythic name-making when Hans Landa asks at the beginning of the film, “You know what they call me?”, and of course, we do because Landa, now an infamous movie character etched in the cinematic time capsule, is known as “The Jew Hunter” and he rides by that reputation for the duration of the film. He’s the Nazi that has a worldwide reputation of capturing Jews in hiding. “I love my unofficial title precisely because I’ve earned it,” he claims mid-way through the film.
Landa is surely up there Vincent and Jules of "Pulp Fiction," and The Bride in "Kill Bill" as a contender for greatest QT character - But according to the writer-director himself, Landa stands above the rest:
“Landa is the best character I’ve written and maybe the best I ever will write,” Tarantino told the crowd, via Screen Daily. “I didn’t realize [when I was first writing him] that he was a linguistic genius. He’s probably one of the only Nazis in history who could speak perfect Yiddish.”
“I was getting worried,” Tarantino said. “Unless I found the perfect Landa, I was going to pull the movie. I gave myself one more week and then I was going to pull the plug. Then Christoph Waltz came in and it was obvious that he was the guy; he could do everything. He was amazing, he gave us our movie back.”
[EW]