The other day news broke that Eli Roth was being cast in Quentin Tarantino’s World War II epic, Inglorious Bastards. This led to a near-global ‘huh?’ as people tried to process the info. I was okay with the idea as long as it was just the one role being cast unconventionally; after all, I think that Eli’s got a good look, is in great shape, can basically act, and The Dirty Dozen already created the mold for having a director as a star in a war film (even though Cassavetes’ most famous films wouldn’t come until after 1967). But now that we’re hearing that BJ Novak has been cast….
No, not Bob Novak, who is preparing to return home to hell very soon, but rather the guy from the American The Office. Who I’ve seen out drinking in Los Feliz, by the way, at Jonathan Hensleigh’s bar! I’m interested in what Tarantino sees in this guy, since on my end he doesn’t seem to have any weight at all – he comes across mildly forgettable on The Office, which is the only place I’ve seen him*. I’m sure he’s a super nice guy, and he’s playing a teeny little character in the film, so maybe it’s all good casting. I’ll reserve my judgment until I see the film, but I would like to hear some casting that actually gets me excited as opposed to making me puzzled.
*an IMDB check proves this false but helps my forgettable case: he’s also briefly in Knocked Up.