Quentin Tarantino Says Adam Sandler Was His Top Choice For Bear Jew In 'Inglourious Basterds'

Quentin Tarantino has addressed a rumor about his critically-acclaimed film "Inglourious Basterds."

The director confirmed that Adam Sandler was supposed to be part of the 2009 movie when he recently appeared on Bill Maher's "Club Random" podcast.

Tarantino told host Maher and co-interviewee Judd Apatow that he had Sandler in mind when he wrote the role of Sergeant Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz. However, at the time, Sandler had already signed on to star in Apatow's "Funny People." The role of Bear Jew eventually went to Eli Roth.

"[Judd and I ] met each other through Adam Sandler during the time that I did 'Little Nicky,'" Tarantino said, referring to his cameo in Sandler's 2000 comedy, Variety reported. "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 gone off the air or it was on its way to going off the air and I had missed it, but that whole 'Happy Madison' crowd was like crazy for it."

Apatow chimed in, saying that he "[feels] 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 'Inglourious Basterds.'"

Tarantino clarified that he had no hard feelings and even approved of Sandler doing Judd's project.

"Obviously he should've done yours because of the whole thing of it," Tarantino replied. "I mean, you start with the f--king 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!' He was like telling every Jewish guy, 'I'm going to f--king play this guy who beats up Nazis with a f--king bat.'"

Since Sandler couldn't join Tarantino's movie, the director and screenwriter moved on and looked for another actor to play the character. However, it wasn't easy for Tarantino to find a replacement.

"Here's the problem. [Judd] wrapped up all the good Jews [for 'Funny People']," Tarantino said. "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!"

Roth, who is a longtime friend of Tarantino's, was aware that his "Inglourious Basterds" role was originally meant for Sandler.

In an interview with ComingSoon in 2009, he mentioned that Tarantino first hinted about the film in 2007 but wasn't sure at the time if it was going to be a movie or a mini-series. Then, in 2008, they talked about "Inglourious Basterds" when he invited Tarantino to his Passover Seder.

"He'd never really seen me as a Jew before. He knew I was Jewish, but I'm not very religious, but he'd never seen me in that environment," Roth explained.

He continued, "All my friends from Massachusetts were there, and my family, and we were jokingly doing the Passover Seder in our Boston accents. Quentin told me later, 'You know, I've been writing Donowitz and I've been hearing your voice in my head and picturing you doing it. I think you would be a great Donnie. I really think you'll be great.'"

Roth went on to share that Tarantino cast him as Bear Jew without an audition.

"Originally, he had Adam Sandler in mind. All of a sudden on July 2nd he gave me the script and then he was auditioning people, but he was not auditioning me, and it turns out that I already had the role, and he was just auditioning people to see if there was anyone who he liked better than me," he added.