Adam Sandler is a popular name in Hollywood for the humor he brings to the screen. With the image he has imprinted on the industry with his comedic prowess over the years, one would not imagine him to be the likes of actors who undergo major physical transformations for their films. But his recent film ‘Spaceman‘ was way out of his comfort zone and has reportedly made him go through things that his fans may not have imagined.
As Adam Sandler delved into an uncharted territory in the sci-fi drama ‘Spaceman‘, director Johan Renck revealed that the actor went through some significant pain while embodying the role of his character in the film. Here’s what the director said about the over the top efforts that Sandler put into the making of this movie.
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Adam Sandler Was “Under Significant Pain” While Shooting For ‘Spaceman’
Adam Sandler is making headlines for his latest movie ‘Spaceman‘, a sci-fi production, in complete contrast with the kind of roles he has done in the past. In the film based on Jaroslav Kalfař’s novel and directed by Johan Renck, Sandler plays the character of Jakub — an astronaut grappling with solitude and some unforeseen incidents in the depths of space.
Speaking about Sandler’s journey playing Jakub, director Renck revealed the physical toll the simulated zero gravity took on Adam Sandler.
Renck said the actor “was on wires, which means that he’s kind of fixed to the set, he can’t piss off when he wants to at all. He can’t move, he can’t do anything, and also under significant pain, because that’s what happens with this harness and these rigs — they start digging into your flesh, and after 24 days of shooting, that pain is real, I will tell you.”
‘Spaceman‘ has a narrative different than the conventional sci-fi tropes that typically feature intergalactic battles. Sandler’s character Jakub finds himself confronted not only by a mysterious extraterrestrial but also by unresolved issues with his wife Lenka, played by Carey Mulligan in the film.
Renck asserted the atypical nature of the film, as he also questioned its classification within the sci-fi genre. The director said the movie has a subdued yet introspective tone. “The question remains: Is it really a sci-fi?” says Renck, whose directing credits include the TV shows Vikings, Breaking Bad, and all five episodes of HBO’s Chernobyl.
“From a pragmatic point of view, it is science fiction, but at the same time, it does not at all behave like you would expect a science fiction film to move. It’s a slightly different kind of movie,” he adds.
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Adam Sandler Was Isolated As He Shot For ‘Spaceman’
The director revealed that he realized that Sandler was interested in the project when he had a general meeting with the actor in Los Angeles. “We have these meetings in this profession where you have a conversation and see if you’d like to play along with each other,” Renck said.
“During that conversation, Adam said, ‘I heard about this space thing you’re developing. What is that?’ I gave him the broad strokes of the idea, and he says, ‘Oh, I have to do this,'” he added.
He also opened up about the challenges that came with filming on a studio set in Long Island, with Sandler navigating scenes alone, acting against CG elements and Dano’s voiceover. Renck said Sandler actually experienced some isolation while shooting, mirroring the film’s thematic exploration of loneliness and solitude.
He asserted that Sandler was “acting against a tennis ball with me or somebody else reading the lines to him.” “Also, for me, it was really important to subject the cameras to the same physicality as our actor, namely zero gravity. We put the cameras on cranes with 360 heads so the cameras could rotate and go up and down,” he added.
“That [meant] that Adam was very much alone, all deep into our spaceship set, with these 60-foot cranes coming in from various directions. It was weirdly a meta experience in terms of isolation and loneliness for him, I think,” Renck said.
The ensemble cast of ‘Spaceman‘ also include Isabella Rossellini, Lena Olin, and Kunal Nayyar, among others. The movie is now available for streaming on Netflix.
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