Just a couple of years after Adam Sandler’s career-defining, stress-inducing performance as troubled gambler Howard Ratner in Josh and Benny Safdie's Uncut Gems, the Punch Drunk Love actor is set to reunite with the directing duo in a new untitled film, according to Vanity Fair.
While speaking with Vanity Fair on the Little Gold Men podcast, Sandler revealed his plan to reunite with the Safdie Brothers and when shooting will begin after being asked about how he selects his next project: “I’m going to do a movie with the Safdie Brothers and we’re supposed to start in the late winter, right,” he said. Sandler also complimented the brothers for the intensity and care that goes into their projects, saying “Then once that Safdie Brothers movie starts—and I love those guys, I know we’re going to dedicate ourselves into working our asses off and making sure it’s as good as it can be, and I know that takes a lot of time.”
When asked if the second (third, if you count the Goldman v Silverman short film) collaboration between Sandler and the Safdie Brothers would be as intense of a process, he replied, “Yeah, because of how much these guys care. And how much I don’t want to let them down...Every joke means a lot. The Safdie boys, every word means a lot to them, every frame of the movie means a lot. So I don’t want to walk through anything. I care about it, and I respect those guys so much.”
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
In the first collaboration between Sandler and the Safdie Brothers, Uncut Gems, Sandler played a gambler whose impulse kept him on the run and constantly looking over his shoulder. The sheer intensity of the film is shared in some other works from the Safdie Brothers, including their 2017 film Good Time, but Uncut Gems still found a way to take it to a whole new level. The film was received well by critics, earning a 91% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but failed to capture an Oscar nomination for anyone including Sandler, who jokingly threatened to make a film “so bad on purpose” had he not received his first Oscar nomination on an appearance on The Howard Stern Show.
While the Safdie Brothers have not directed a film together since Uncut Gems — though they did produce A24’s Funny Pages this year — Bennie Safdie could recently be seen in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, Obi-Wan Kenobi and is set to appear in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in 2023. Sandler, on the other hand, was recently seen in the new sports drama Hustle, which is on Netflix now.
The untitled Sandler-Safdie brothers film doesn’t have a release date yet, but you can listen to Sandler’s interview on the Little Gold Men podcast here.