Why Adam Sandler Turned Down Inglourious Basterds | Screen Rant
Inglourious Basterds could have had a very different cast has Quentin Tarantino’s first options been available and interested in it, and among those could have been Adam Sandler – here’s why he turned it down. Quentin Tarantino’s career as a filmmaker began in 1992 with the crime movie Reservoir Dogs, and since then, he has written and directed movies from different genres – from martial arts with Kill Bill to exploitation slasher with Death Proof, but in 2009 he tried something different with Inglourious Basterds, which explores an alternate version of World War II.
Inglourious Basterds followed two subplots with the common goal of killing as many Nazis as possible, including Hitler: one plan was by a group known as the “Basterds”, led by Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), and the other by Shosanna Dreyfus/Emmanuelle Mimieux (Mélanie Laurent), a Jewish cinema owner whose family was killed by SS officer Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Through them, Tarantino shared his vision of WWII and gave it a different ending, which earned him and the movie a lot of praise. The cast of Inglourious Basterds also received a lot of praise, especially Christoph Waltz, but the cast could have been very different, and one of the most popular characters could have been played by Adam Sandler, but he turned it down.
Adam Sandler was Tarantino’s first choice to play Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz, who was ultimately played by Eli Roth. Donny was part of the Basterds and was known for executing Nazis with his baseball bat. Donny was a key player in the Basterds’ plan to kill Hitler at the premiere at Shosanna’s cinema, and along with Omar Ulmer (Omar Doom) shot Hitler multiple times before the bombs attached to their legs went off. Speaking to RTÉ.ie in 2008, while promoting the black comedy You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, Sandler confirmed he had been approached by Tarantino to join his new project (at the time, the title hadn’t been revealed), but he was going to be shooting another movie at the same time, so he had to turn it down. Sandler added he was disappointed to have to leave the project, and that he had known Tarantino for a long time, and had even talked about working together for a while.
The project that didn’t allow Sandler to play Donny in Inglourious Basterds was Funny People, directed by Judd Apatow. The movie follows George Simmons (Sandler), a comedian who is diagnosed with cancer and so tries to fix the relationships in his life while befriending an aspiring comedian named Ira Wright (Seth Rogen). Funny People was generally well-received by critics and Sandler’s performance was praised as well, which can’t be said about his following projects. Sandler has become well-known for essentially playing the same character in all his comedies, though he has shone in drama roles and received a lot of praise, as happened with his performance in Josh and Benny Safdie’s crime thriller Uncut Gems. Tarantino and Sandler haven’t worked together yet, but there’s still a chance as the director plans to make 10 movies and then retire, so there’s still hope for them to join forces.
Adam Sandler killing Nazis with a baseball bat and shooting Hitler in Inglourious Basterds is something that will live in the imagination of the audience, who will ultimately decide if he would have made a deadlier or funnier Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz than Eli Roth’s version – and they will also decide if this role would have changed his career for the better or he would have still made more, not-so-successful comedies after it.
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