For the most part, Adam Sandler is content to make exceedingly puerile and terrible movies, as long as they have big cheques attached to them, and let him hang out with pals in what usually amounts to a paid vacation. And while there is a certain segment of the population that loves those kinds of movies, every now and then, Sandler tries his hand at actual acting. Of course, he led Paul Thomas Anderson‘s delirious romance “Punch Drunk Love,” though even there, he was riffing on his screen persona to some degree. Meanwhile, he’s tried going serious with fare like “Funny People,” “Spanglish” and perhaps most egregiously “Reign Over Me,” to mixed results. And now he’s pushing himself even further.
THR reports that Sandler will star in “The Station Agent,” “Win Win” and “The Visitor” writer/director Tom McCarthy‘s next effort, “The Cobbler.” Kind of like a dramatic “Click” or something, the modern day set film “tells of a shoe man who has the ability to metaphysically step into the lives of the people whose shoes he repairs.” Um, okay. Sounds a bit out there, but then again, so did “The Station Agent” on paper and it turned out to be something pretty damn special all around. Plus McCarthy’s track record speaks for itself, so we’ll wait to see how it shapes out.
But what of Jason Reitman‘s “Men, Women & Children,” you ask? Well, Sandler is still attached to that film, put if all goes according to plan, he’ll knock out this indie first, which may mean two non-Kevin James affiliated movies in a row for Sandler. We hope he’ll be okay.
As for McCarthy, he has been steadily working on the based-on-a-true-story drama centering on the journalists who broke the story about Cardinal Bernard Law, America’s Senior Catholic Prelate, who was protecting priests accused of assault by moving them to different parishes where they offended again. While that had momentum, with Matt Damon rumored to be a frontrunner for the flick, it has been pushed back as DreamWorks has dropped the project, and it needs to find a new home. The plan is try and shoot the project, now titled “Spotlight,” in 2014, with “The Cobbler” going first.
Either way, a new film by McCarthy is always welcome news, and if Sandler is the man to make it happen, good on him for getting behind a quality filmmaker. Minor Update: the new AFM issue of ScreenDaily says “The Cobbler” will begin shooting this month (November) in New York.