Director Dennis Dugan will continue his longstanding partnership with Adam Sandler to direct the actor in dual roles for the comedy Jack and Jill. Previously, we only knew that Sandler will play both Jack and his twin sister Jill in the film, deemed a “romantic comedy.” That kind of ambiguity leaves open some dangerously icky possibilities, but recent comments from Sandler make it seem like the romance element is not a major portion of the narrative. Interpret Sandler’s comments for yourself after the jump.
Cinema Blend inquired about the plot specifics of Jack and Jill during a junket for the upcoming Dugan/Sandler effort Grown Ups, to which Sandler responded,
In Jack and Jill I play me, I play my twin sister. The man version of me is doing okay, he has a family out in L.A.; the twin-sister-version of me lives out in the Bronx and comes out to L.A. for Thanksgiving and then refuses to leave and is spoiling the man version of [me’s] family life a little bit.
If Boy Sandler is a (presumably married) family man, then it sounds like Girl Sandler may the “better” half of a pair of fated lovers in the film, though I’m likely reading too much into initial reports. Certainly most of the runtime will be devoted to Sandler's falsetto, regardless. That's funny, right?
Dugan was also present at the junket, and confirmed he would direct the gender-bending comedy. To recap, Dugan has helmed the following Sandler vehicles:
- Happy Gilmore
- Big Daddy
- The Benchwarmers
- I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
- You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
- This summer’s Grown Ups, which co-stars Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider
Plus, Dugan will direct Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in the actual romantic comedy Just Go With It (formerly titled Pretend Wife), which is targeting a near-Valentine’s Day release of February 11, 2011. Over the past decade, when Sandler has taken a sabbatical from his work with Dugan, he's acted under the guide of such directors as Paul Thomas Anderson, James L. Brooks, and Judd Apatow. Hmm.