Quentin Tarantino Originally Wanted Adam Sandler to Play the Bear Jew in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Quentin Tarantino has revealed that he originally wanted to cast Adam Sandler in the role of The Jew Bear in Inglourious Basterds. I would have absolutely loved to see Sandler in the role of Sergeant Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz! He would have been way better than Eli Roth.

Tarantino talked about this on a recent episode of Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast and was joined by Judd Apatow. The reason that Sandler didn’t do it was because Apatow had already locked Sandler down for Funny People, which is a shame because Inglourious Basterds was a much better film.

Tarantino said: “[Judd and I ] met each other through Adam Sandler during the time that I did Little Nicky. I was like hanging out with that crew for a while. We went to a bunch of different things together. 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.”

Apatow cut in and said: “I feel bad because when I did Funny People with Sandler, I wasn’t aware that that was the exact time you were trying to use him for Inglorious Basterds.”

Tarantino replied: “Obviously he should’ve done yours because of the whole thing of it. I mean, you start with the fucking video cassette of you guys as kids. But yeah, the Bear Jew was going to…I wrote the Bear Jew for Adam Sandler. When I was doing Little Nicky, he’s telling me like, ‘Oh man, I get to fucking beat up Nazis with a bat? Fucking script! Fucking awesome! I can’t fucking wait! I can’t fucking wait!’ He was like telling every Jewish guy, ‘I’m going to fucking play this guy who beats up Nazis with a fucking bat.'“

He went on to say: “Here’s the problem. [Judd] wrapped up all the good Jews [for Funny People]. That was the problem. Seth Rogen and all the good Jews were doing Funny People. I’m killing Hitler with baseball bats and there’s no good Jews available! David Krumholtz, nobody! All the good Jews were all wrapped up! I’m doing the Jewish male fantasy!”

It’s a shame that things didn’t work out with Sandler. Watching him play The Bear Jew is something that I would have loved to see!