When Adam Sandler found his phenomenal performance in Uncut Gems becoming the subject of some serious Academy Awards buzz, the actor made the ominous threat that if he didn’t win, he would star in a movie so bad that they’d regret their decision to snub him. Of course, he was (hopefully) joking and didn’t even manage to land a nomination in the end, but based on the overall quality of his output over the last two decades, it can’t be ruled out that he’d set out to make a deliberately awful film.
The 53 year-old has proven to be a goldmine for Netflix, though, with seemingly every one of his movies that lands on the streaming service cracking the Top 10 most-watched list in short order, while his original projects draw in tens of millions of viewers. It isn’t surprising to hear that the company are keen to remain in the Adam Sandler business for as long as possible, but we’re hearing from our sources that the two sides could soon be reuniting once more for an altogether different sort of collaboration.
According to our intel – which comes from the same sources that told us Netflix were working on an Extraction sequel and a spinoff for The Witcher before either was officially confirmed – Sandler is reportedly buoyed by the reception to his work in Uncut Gems, and is now actively seeking to headline a prestige drama for the streaming site that could potentially put him into awards season contention.
While there aren’t any other details available at this point, it’s definitely a much better idea than churning out another uninspired comedy just to give Rob Schneider something to do. Adam Sandler is at the age where he can’t keep playing the same character forever, and there’s definitely a brilliant actor under there somewhere, the Happy Madison Productions head honcho just needs to let it out much more often. And with any luck, this new in-development Netflix project will allow him to do just that.
