Perhaps one of the most curious and fun aspects of the cinematographic world is the alternative universes that are generated with the truncated casting processes, and that shape films that change drastically with respect to those that end up materializing. The case that we bring you today has as its central axis Quentin Tarantinoand invites you to dream about what your ‘Inglourious Basterds’ could have been.
The other Jewish Bear
For a long time it has been rumored that the already iconic Sergeant Donny Donowitz, aka the Bear Jew, who was played by Eli Roth in the 2009 feature film, he should have looked very different from the director of ‘Hostel’; specifically, that of Adam Sandler. So far, this was just a joke, but Tarantino himself has cracked the mystery once and for all.
During a podcast episode Club Random by Bill Maher, in which Judd Apatow also starred, the filmmaker has admitted that, in effect, wrote the character with Sandler in mind.
“Yeah, Bear Jew was going to… I wrote Bear Jew for Adam Sandler. When I was shooting ‘Little Nicky,’ I was like, ‘Oh, man, am I going to be able to beat Nazis with a bat? Fucking script! It’s fucking shit! I can’t wait! I can’t wait!’ I was telling all the Jews, ‘I’m going to play a fucking guy who beats up Nazis with a fucking bat.'”
Why was the dream of good Quentin cut short? As he joked, it was Apatow himself who was to blame for having to turn to Roth as a last resort. he stayed with the best jewish actors to shoot ‘Make me laugh’ —’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 are no good Jews available! Not David Krumholtz or anyone else! All the good Jews were involved I’m shooting Jewish male fantasy!”
In spite of everything, it must be recognized that the work of Eli Roth embodying the Jewish Bear ended up being as iconic as tremendously satisfying.
