Adam Sandler has spoken recently about his most serious role yet in the upcoming Spaceman, and how director Johan Renck “didn’t want me sounding like me.” In the movie, Sandler plays an astronaut facing ongoing marital issues who finds friendship with an extra-terrestrial spider.
Though he made his start in Hollywood as a comedy actor, there is no escaping the fact that Sandler has cemented himself as a great student of drama in recent years. Spaceman is set to be one of the most serious roles he has taken on yet.
At the premiere, Sandler said in an interview that director Johan Renck “Kept saying, ‘I want to see none of Adam Sandler in there.’ I understood, I hear that in my house too: ‘I want to see none of Adam Sandler.’”
When asked how hard it is to leave his comedic roots behind for a role, Sandler said, “I did my best. He didn’t want me sounding like me, he didn’t want me making faces. It was a difficult process.”
The movie follows Sandler’s character, an astronaut sent on a mission to the solar system’s edge. He leaves his life on Earth behind, which includes a pregnant wife, played by Carey Mulligan. Things start to fall apart for the astronaut, who winds up finding friendship with a giant extra-terrestrial spider on the ship, voiced by Paul Dano.
“I really like comedians in serious roles because I do think that there’s something about the fearless aspect to be a comedian that I can capitalise on,” said Renck. “A lot of times when you’re a director, you’re dealing with actors who you’re talking about how you want to do a scene and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know about that.’ With comedians, because they live life onstage making fools out of themselves in front of people, they’re like, ‘I’m not afraid of anything.’”
Check out the trailer for ‘Spaceman’ below.
