Adam Sandler almost had a role in Quentin Tarantino’s acclaimed film Inglorious Basterds. Tarantino shared this tidbit in a new interview with Bill Maher, saying that he had hoped Sandler would play the role of Sgt. Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz, which ultimately went to Eli Roth instead. The full interview will be available on Monday in Maher’s Club Random podcast.
Tarantino revealed that he actually spent a good deal of time hanging out with Sandler and other comedians in his orbit in the early 2000s. In an interview excerpt published by Variety, he explained that he met Sandler after doing a cameo in his movie Little Nicky, and through him met Judd Apatow. He and Apatow appeared on Maher’s podcast together.
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“I was like hanging out with [Apatow’s] crew for a while. We went to a bunch of different things together,” Tarantino said. “But also Freaks and Geeks had just went off the air or it was on its way to go off the air and I had missed it, but that whole Happy Madison crowd was, like, crazy for it.”
Ultimately, Tarantino said that Apatow was the reason Sandler didn’t make it into Inglorious Basterds. He said that Apatow was filming Funny People with Sandler, and he “wasn’t aware that that was the exact time [Tarantino was] trying to use him for Inglorious Basterds.”
“Obviously he should’ve done your [movie] because of the whole thing of it,” Tarantino said to Apatow. “I mean, you start with the f—ing video cassette of you guys as kids. But yeah… I wrote the Bear Jew for Adam Sandler.”
According to Tarantino, Sandler was eager to participate in Inglorious Basterds. He said: “When I was doing Little Nicky, he’s telling me like, ‘Oh man, I get to f—ing beat up Nazis with a bat? F—ing script! F—ing awesome! I can’t f—ing wait!’ [Sandler] was like telling every Jewish guy, ‘I’m going to f—ing play this guy who beats up Nazis with a f—ing bat!’”
Sandler might have been an odd choice for Tarantino at the time, given his reputation for lighthearted comedy. However, since then Sandler has won acclaim for some of his more serious roles. In 2019, many critics thought that Sandler had put up the best performance of his career in Uncut Gems. With any luck, the two will get a chance to work together sometime in the future.
