Fans of the film industry are divided when it comes to Adam Sandler. You either really enjoy his movies or you simply don’t. There is no in-between. The actor is mainly known for his work in the comedy genre, especially romcoms which make us all giddy on the inside. Sure, the critics are not huge fans of Adam Sandler’s movies, but we as an audience have to agree that the films can be wholesome to watch!
However, comedy is not all that Adam Sandler does. He has worked in drama films as well, including Uncut Gems and Hustle, the latter of which earned Adam Sandler his very first SAG Awards nomination. In fact, his most recent film, Spaceman, sees the actor take on the dramatic role of an astronaut going through a crumbling marriage with his wife. While shooting Spaceman, Adam Sandler was subjected to extreme discomfort which left him in pain.
Adam Sandler’s New Movie Caused Him Too Much Pain
In Spaceman, Adam Sandler’s Jakub Procházka spends most of his time in space where he comes across a giant talking spider that belongs from the beginning of time. This creature helps Jakub figure out the problems in his life on Earth. Consider us intrigued.
Since Sandler had to appear as if he was floating in the air, he was hooked up to plenty of wires to make the scenes look as natural and authentic as possible. However, being hooked onto those wires for the film turned out to cause great distress to the actor who admitted to being in pain.
At the press conference for the Berlin Film Festival (via Variety) Sandler recalled the discomfort and how director Johan Renck helped him achieve the perfect shots. Sandler stated,
“The wires were tough because my body’s not the most flexible body. The wires hurt me, they dug into me. The stuntmen who would wire me up every day, I would say ‘that hurts’ and they didn’t believe me. But we did it as a team. [Director] Johan [Renck] would say, ‘You don’t look like you’re floating, what are you doing?’ And then I would say, ‘Well, what should we do?’ And then they’d wire Johan up and he’d be like, ‘More like this!’”
Fortunately, Sandler was able to keep his discomfort on the sidelines for the sake of the film. This just goes on to prove that you might have varying opinions about the actor but he always gives his 100% to his roles.
Adam Sandler Acted with a Tennis Ball
Since the giant talking spider was an integral part of Spaceman, Sandler obviously spent a lot of his time filming scenes that showed the two together. Now, obviously, there was no way Renck went out of his way to bring an actual talking spider to the sets of the film. Therefore, the 50 First Dates actor filmed the scenes with the help of a tennis ball stuck on a stick and pretending that it was Paul Dano’s Hanuš.
Renck spoke highly of Sandler’s skills with The Hollywood Reporter and admitted that he was absolutely impressed by the actor.
“When I look at this film now and I look at Adam’s performance, it’s phenomenal. He was hanging there on the wires. And he’s no spring chicken anymore. He’s not a gymnast or a bodybuilder. And he’s hanging in mid-air, acting against a tennis ball, with me around the corner reading lines. Then you look at the film and see the profound curiosity in his eyes, the bafflement, all these subtle details. All this acting against a tennis ball.”
Sandler also spoke about having to film scenes with a tennis ball at the Berlin Film Festival stating,
“I’d be talking to a tennis ball or Johan’s friend who came and dressed up and would crawl around. It’s a movie about being alone, and the tennis ball allowed me to be alone and in my own world.”
Despite the film having a giant philosophical spider that helps Jakub navigate through the problems of his life, Spaceman is possibly the most serious we’ll see Sandler, at least for now. We cannot wait to see how the actor pulls it off!
Spaceman will be released on Netflix on March 01.
