Fresh off the heels of sports drama Rush, Adam Sandler talks about plans for his second feature film directed by Josh and Benny Safdie. He and the Safdie brothers teamed up for the first time on their critical hit Uncut Gemstones, starring Sandler as a celebrity jeweler and problem gambler. The Safdie brothers are multi-talented filmmakers, and between the two, they’ve held almost every position in the business, including writer, director, editor, and even sound mixer. The release date for their next project with Sandler is unknown.
Uncut Gemstones was considered an Oscar for both the filmmakers and Sandler, who promised to make the worst movie ever if he didn’t win the Academy Award. The film brought out the best of the Safdies’ fast-paced, pressure cooker stories, with their imaginative use of lighting and crosstalk. Uncut Gemstones was also a major flashpoint for Sandler, who unfortunately rose to fame for box-office flops dressed as family comedies before taking on the role of a degenerate gambler. Sandler and the siblings have also joined forces for a short film called Goldman vs Silverman, but the project ran for only 7 minutes and featured only Sandler and Benny Safdie, the actor of the two brothers.
In an appearance on Vanity Fair‘s podcast Little golden men, Sandler talks about the passion that is in a movie of the Safdie brothers. He explains that the lead role in the film comes at the expense of personal time, but for the actor, the exchange is fair. The trio was first confirmed to be working together again in April 2022, but Sandler is finally getting into real, tangible developments from within. Read his comments below:
So part of my brain says, ‘Wow, once that movie starts, I’m deep into it, and our lives are going to change.’ Like everyone else, when you work hard you are tired, you are knocked out and you miss things you wish you had seen. But in the end, I know it will be a few months to go after a goal that we all feel the same about. We want to do our best.
I don’t want to disappoint them… Every joke means a lot. The Safdie guys, every word means a lot to them, every frame of the movie means a lot. So I don’t want to walk through anything. I care and I have so much respect for those guys.
A Safdie Brothers and Adam Sandler reunion is perfect
Sandler has moved on to dramatic acting and will star in the upcoming sci-fi movie Spaceman and nicely fitting in the basketball drama Rush. But three years later, 21st Century Sandler still performs best when he works under Safdie’s banner, and based on Sandler’s comments, he will go to great lengths to meet the rigors of their projects. Their partnership is clearly one of mutual respect and admiration, and Sandler went to work for the brothers when the end of Uncut Gemstones was criticized by a select audience. The actor also notes in his comments that cameras would start rolling in the late winter of 2022.
The Safdie brothers’ films convey an element of theatrical dynamism not seen in other films. The pair often cast a non-actor to play a character close to their authentic selves, against a seasoned performer. In case of Uncut Gemstones, they pitted Sandler against former NBA star Kevin Garnett in a move that both furthered plot and increased realism. The Safdie’s Breakthrough Movie, Good time, set the shady protagonist Connie (Robert Pattinson) deep within a crime series featuring escaped con artist Ray, played by Buddy Duress, a previously incarcerated individual who was on the run for nearly a year. If the filmmakers continue with this casting formula and maintain the new dimension of performance it adds for Sandler-Safdie II, viewers will be in for another palpitation-inducing treat.
Source: Vanity Fair
