Quentin Tarantino has confirmed that he wrote a part for Adam Sandler in Inglorious Basterds.
It has long been rumoured that Sandler was earmarked for a role in the gory war film - which was written and directed by Tarantino - and now, more than 13 years on from its release, he's confirmed the rumour is true.
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The 59-year-old said the part of Sergeant Donny 'The Bear Jew' Donowitz was meant for Sandler, but the actor had already been locked in to shooting Funny People at the same time.
Tarantino recounted his plan - and how it went wrong - on Bill Maher's Club Random podcast, where he was a guest alongside Funny People writer and director Judd Apatow.
"[Judd and I] met each other through Adam Sandler during the time that I did Little Nicky,” he said.
"I was like hanging out with that crew for a while. We went to a bunch of different things together.
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"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 then interjected to share his guilt at nabbing Sandler from him.
"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," he said.
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Tarantino assured Apatow that it made sense for Sandler to star in his movie, but said the actor was pumped to have the opportunity to play the Bear Jew.
"Obviously he should've done yours because of the whole thing of it," Tarantino replied. "I mean, you start with the f***ing 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 f**king beat up Nazis with a bat? F**king script! F**king awesome! I can't f**king wait! I can't f**king wait!'
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"He was like telling every Jewish guy, 'I'm going to f***ing play this guy who beats up Nazis with a f***ing bat.'"
Alas, it wasn't meant to be. And to make matters worse for Tarantino, Apatow had snapped up a load of the best candidates for Funny People.
"Here's the problem. [Judd] wrapped up all the good Jews," Tarantino said.
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"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!"
Damn - don't ya just hate it when that happens?
Topics: Quentin Tarantino, Adam Sandler, TV and Film
Jake Massey