analysis - In "Synecdoche, New York" what is the meaning of the character name Sammy Barnathan?

Sammy
Barnathan is a key character in "Synecdoche, New York," which was written and directed
by Charlie Kaufman. In the href="http://movie.douban.com/subject/2028819/discussion/25089724/">interview
excerpt below, Kaufman suggests that there is meaning behind the name:

"That character's name is maybe something someone will
pick up on, maybe someone won't."

I'm one of the people who
is not picking up on the name, so does anyone know what is significant about the
character name Sammy Barnathan?

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class="normal">Answer

From
Charlie Kaufman: Confessions of an Original Mind, p.138 (by Doreen
Alexander Child)

The
character's name, Sammy Barnathan, may be a clever play on the
name of a
Rabbi in the Talmud. Rabbi Samuel bar Nathan had a prayer
leader removed from
guiding a religious service because of his
excessive bowing. This overly
submissive posture greatly angered the
Rabbi, and in turn he fired the cantor
from his position. Tom Noonan's
character Sammy essentially fires Caden from
this life as his
passivity is
unacceptable.