15 Trivia Tidbits About ‘You Don't Mess with the Zohan’ on Its 15th Anniversary

"He is the greatest Israeli soldier the world has ever known, but it was time for a change," begins the trailer for the Adam Sandler film You Don't Mess with the Zohan. The movie focuses on Sandler as Zohan, an Israeli killing machine who dreams of being a hairstylist in America. And so, he fakes his death and moves to the U.S. to support his passion. Unfortunately, his past catches up to him and leads to a life-and-death conflict in New York City.

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Debuting in 2008, You Don't Mess with the Zohan somehow found comedy in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It was moderately successful at the box office and is generally ranked in the lower tier of Sandler films (though our own Tim Grierson named it as one of Sandler's five essential films). Still, with Zohan celebrating its 15th anniversary tomorrow, it's worthy of a few trivia tidbits, like the fact that it was kinda, sorta, maybe inspired by a real person...

You Don't Mess with the Zohan was partially inspired by Nezi Arbib, a former Israeli soldier who became a hair stylist in Solana Beach, California.

In addition to Sandler, the screenplay for You Don't Mess with the Zohan was written by Robert Smigel — the man behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog — and Judd Apatow. In an interview, Apatow revealed that the script for Zohan was written back in 2000, but following 9/11, a comedy relating to terrorism and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was too sensitive a topic. This led to it being shelved until 2008.