Inglourious Basterds director Quentin Tarantino’s epic World War II film has long been the subject of allegations concerning the alleged hiring of Sgt. Donny Donowitz, the movie’s famous “Bear Jew.” The Bear Jew appears in some of the movie’s most iconic scenes, such as when he makes a big entrance to a group of Nazis who are being held captive after Brad Pitt’s Lt. Aldo Raine makes him out to be a legendary Nazi headsmacker. Although Tarantino has never explicitly said that Eli Roth was never supposed to play Donowitz, it has long been assumed that he was originally going to play Adam Sandler. In a segment of Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, the director at last acknowledged that Sandler was in mind when he was writing the part.
Judd Apatow was also interviewed on the same programme that Tarantino was, which was only fitting since Apatow was the one who denied Tarantino his dream. He referred to his appearance in the Adam Sandler-led comedy as “[Judd and I] met through Adam Sandler around the time when I did Little Nicky.” He had spent some time hanging out with Sandler and his friends, which had helped him get to know Apatow, Sandler’s former roommate and buddy. Sandler and Apatow have been in discussions for Funny People for a while because of their relationship and the star’s prior performances.
Sadly for Tarantino, that took place at the same time period as Inglourious Basterds. I regret not knowing that you were attempting to utilise Sandler at the same moment I was filming Funny People with him for Inglorious Basterds, said Apatow. Even though Tarantino was ultimately left high and dry, it turned out to be a rewarding and personal undertaking for Apatow and received positive reviews from reviewers and viewers. Tarantino wasn’t completely out of luck, either. Instead of Sandler, he was able to recruit his close friend Roth to bash Nazis over the head with a baseball bat.
