7 Movies Almost Ruined By Adam Sandler

4. Inglourious Basterds

The Role: When Quentin Tarantino was originally conceiving his acclaimed revisionist war film Inglourious Basterds, he not only saw Leonardo DiCaprio as playing sadistic Nazi soldier Hans Landa (in a part that eventually went to Christoph Waltz and won him an Oscar), but envisioned Sandler as playing the bat-wielding, hilariously sadistic Nazi hunter Sgt. Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz. Sandler wanted to play the part but ultimately had to decline as it interfered with his work on Judd Apatow's dramedy Funny People (which, in contrast to Tarantino's box office smash, didn't even make its budget back). Of the quandary, Sandler said, "€œI read the script, it€™s fantastic. But I€™m shooting at the very same time. I won€™t be able to do it. I€™m doing a movie with Judd Apatow at the same time so that€™s not going to happen, but I did read it. It is awesome€it€™s definitely disappointing. I€™d love to do it, but I just can€™t.€ Why He Would've Ruined The Movie: In fairness this is probably the role on this list that Sandler is best-suited for, but even so, the idea of seeing him in a Tarantino film would've created an undeniable distancing effect, and audiences would've struggled to take the part, ultimately played by Eli Roth, seriously. Unless Sandler pumped some serious iron and busted out the sort of visceral chops most viewers never knew he had, then he could've sunk significant portions of the film with his performance. That said, QT does have an impressive track record with casting unconventional actors in brilliant roles, so it may have worked, but the odds would certainly have been stacked against him.