Wait, why are we re-reporting this? Well, a) it’s official, according to AICN anyway, and people actors have been dropping off this project due to scheduling conflicts so it’s good to note who will actually make the cut (this is what happens when you promise to have a film complete for Cannes and then do everything in your power to make it happen).
Anyhow, So B.J. Novack is apparently “officially” signed on for Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Bastards.” How does AICN know? Apparently some random kid spoke to Novack after a stand-up comedy gig, he told the kid that he had signed the contract and that kid emailed AICN (dude what about us! 😉
“He confirmed that he will be in QT’s Inglorious Bastards, and that he had just signed the contract on Friday.” Now that’s some reporting! That’s the pull-quote of the day, huh? You’ll recall that Simon Pegg and David Krumholtz to drop out of the project due to scheduling issues, but apparently it worked out for “The Office” star (fans of the show should note, he says his character Ryan will be back for at least the season opener).
Overall, this is good news for us. There’s something about Novack’s youthful, but not completely unbelievable “Band Of Brothers”-like face that make us think he’d be better than both Pegg or Krumholtz. We’ve noted for a while that we weren’t excited about all the casting in the film, but this one we can hang with. Coincidentally, we were just interviewed about this very topic last Friday: why QT is having such a hard time casting the film (or at least why he’s having a hard time keeping some of the names he wants).
Speaking of “Band of Brothers” we always thought this was a project that Tarantino might have been thinking of loosely when he was writing/casting “Inglorious Bastards.” We didn’t realize, but Michael Fassbender, the actor who’s apparently being tapped to replace Simon Pegg (a waaay better choice, frankly, he’s German and that character is supposed to be very fluent in the language) was in ‘Brothers.’ Fassbender is also likely having the time of his life just being thought of for ‘Bastards.’ Apparently he’s a huge Tarantino fan and he acutally produced, directed and starred in a stage version of “Reservoir Dogs,” with his production company. Not just any fareweather fan does that, no?