He's convinced millions and millions of people to embrace their silly sides, but there's always been darkness lurking nearby in Adam Sandler's personal and professional lives.
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00:00He's convinced millions and millions of people to embrace their silly sides, but there's
00:04always been darkness lurking nearby in Adam Sandler's personal and professional lives.
00:10In the early 1990s, Saturday Night Live was dominated by a tight-knit group of male cast
00:15members known as the Bad Boys of SNL.
00:18That group included Sandler, as well as David Spade, Chris Rock, and Chris Farley.
00:22By the middle of the decade, Sandler and Farley had both extended their fame onto the big
00:27And then they both departed the show at the end of the 20th season in 1995.
00:32You might think that they left of their own accord to chase after bigger and better things,
00:36but as it turns out, they were actually fired.
00:39Sandler realized it wasn't a decision from anyone directly associated with the show,
00:43but rather an NBC executive who didn't care for the Bad Boys.
00:47He was left feeling sad, angry, and confused, as SNL was his comedy home.
00:52At the time, I was hurt because I didn't know what else I was going to do.
00:56Sandler also explained that he and Farley pretended to be angry over the situation,
01:01but that they were actually deeply hurt.
01:031995's Billy Madison was the first film that Adam Sandler co-wrote and headlined as a lead
01:09actor.
01:10It's since built up a significant fan base, but upon release it was hit with savagely
01:14negative critical reviews.
01:15Gene Siskel, for one, called it
01:17"...the latest entry in the American cinema's investigation of dumb and dumber heroes."
01:23The vitriolic tone of the reviews blindsided the usually optimistic Sandler.
01:27As he told The Washington Post in 2023,
01:29"...when Billy Madison came out and I realized I'm going to be in the newspaper, that was
01:34a big deal.
01:35And then I read a couple reviews and I was like, oof, that hurts.
01:38I thought they would have a good time with it like I did."
01:40The reception wasn't much better for Sandler's next starring vehicle, Happy Gilmore, so he
01:45then decided to avoid reviews of his films as much as possible.
01:48As he explained to Deadline in 2022,
01:50"...maybe we shouldn't read this stuff because it's so harsh."
01:53That same year, he told AARP,
01:55"...I invite all these amazing people I care about to make movies with me, and I wish they
02:01didn't have to read s---- about whatever we've made.
02:04But I don't get too shook up."
02:06Adam Sandler and Chris Farley forged a deep friendship during their time together at SNL,
02:10but there was darkness behind the love and success.
02:13Chris Farley developed addictions to drugs and alcohol.
02:16In 1996 and 1997, he entered and withdrew from 17 different rehab programs.
02:22In December 1997, he checked himself out of a clinic and returned home to Chicago, where
02:27he used drugs and alcohol to excess for the better part of four days.
02:31On December 18th, he was found dead in his apartment.
02:34He was only 33.
02:36When Sandler returned to stand-up comedy in the 2010s, his act included an emotionally
02:40devastating number about his late friend.
02:43During an appearance on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, he revealed,
02:47"...the first few times we played that song, I would tear up, and I couldn't really sing
02:51it well because I'd get so emotional.
02:53And then I felt it and was able to get it out there."
02:56"'Oh yeah, it gets me.
02:57I love hearing the crowd go nuts for Farley.
03:01Every show I do."
03:02Sandler was raised in New Hampshire by his parents, Judy and Stanley Sandler, a teacher
03:07and an electrical contractor, respectively.
03:09The influence of his parents is a big theme throughout his career.
03:12For example, he released an album called Stan & Judy's Kid, and the basketball scout he
03:17played in the 2022 movie Hustle was named after and based on his father.
03:23Stanley Sandler made his own film debut in 2002, voicing the father of his son's character
03:27in the animated movie Eight Crazy Nights.
03:30Soon after the release of that film, Stanley died at the age of 68 following a lung cancer
03:35diagnosis.
03:36Losing his dad understandably had a profound effect on the younger Sandler, as he admitted
03:41to Parade in 2009.
03:42"'I went through stuff with my dad before he died.
03:45I saw firsthand what goes on with people who are incredibly sick.'"
03:48In a 2020 Facebook post, Sandler remembered his dad by writing,
03:52"'My dad.
03:53The greatest man I ever knew.
03:55Great husband.'"
03:56"'Yes, I love my dad more than anything.'"
03:58In the 2008 movie You Don't Mess With the Zohan, Adam Sandler played an Israeli counterterrorism
04:03agent who tries to leave it all behind to become a hairdresser.
04:07It might sound like a wildly original idea that only Sandler and his collaborators could
04:11come up with, but a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement suggested otherwise.
04:16Robert Cabell is the creator of the cartoon character James Blonde, a Navy SEAL who quits
04:21that gig to become a hairdresser.
04:23He wields a gun-hairdryer combo that's similar to the way Sandler's character holds a hairdryer
04:28like a gun in the Zohan poster.
04:31Cabell claimed that Sandler's production company knew about James Blonde because a happy Madison
04:36executive wrote to him on MySpace.
04:39After Zohan was made, Cabell sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sandler and attempted negotiations
04:44before filing a suit in 2009, as Zohan spelled the end of a reportedly in-the-works James
04:50Blonde film.
04:51A judge ultimately dismissed the case in 2011.
04:54And that wasn't the only legal trouble that Sandler has ever faced, as a negligence lawsuit
04:59was filed by a member of the set-building crew of the 2012 movie That's My Boy.
05:04A carpenter who worked on the film sued for $1 million in damages after he accidentally
05:08had parts of some fingers excised and broke some hand bones while working with a table
05:13saw that wasn't fortified with safety equipment.
05:16Adam Sandler's 2015 Netflix Western comedy The Ridiculous 6 intended to send up the dated
05:22and offensive tropes associated with that genre.
05:25But then, about a dozen Native American performers walked off the set.
05:29As actor Lauren Anthony told Indian Country Today Media Network,
05:32"...we were supposed to be Apache, but it was really stereotypical and we did not look
05:36Apache at all.
05:38We looked more like Comanche.
05:39They just treated us as if we should just be on the side."
05:42When some of the Native American actors spoke with Sandler and other producers, they were
05:46reportedly told that the script wouldn't be changed.
05:49As Sandler told the Associated Press,
05:51It was just a misunderstanding and once the movie is out, we'll be cleared up."
05:55In another scandal related to The Ridiculous 6, Rose McGowan revealed on social media that
06:00she was asked to audition for the film, but that she had to wear figure-hugging, bust-enhancing
06:04clothes.
06:05She later told Entertainment Weekly,
06:07"...I'm not trying to vilify Adam Sandler, although someone did tell me that when he
06:10did his Netflix deal, he said, I signed with Netflix because it rhymes with wet chicks.
06:16I mean, what?
06:17What in the f----- is going on?
06:19No!"
06:20"...It's an Adam Sandler movie.
06:21What am I, like, dumb?
06:22I get it."
06:24Adam Sandler doesn't do a whole lot of solo, in-depth interviews, but he broke that unofficial
06:28rule in 2022 to memorialize his dear friend and frequent collaborator, Norm MacDonald.
06:34MacDonald joined Saturday Night Live as a writer and cast member in 1993, and then he
06:39and Sandler worked closely together on the big screen in Billy Madison in 1995.
06:43They would go on to work together on three more movies, while also becoming very close
06:47off-screen.
06:48MacDonald passed away from cancer in September 2021 at the age of 61.
06:53His death came as a shock, as he kept his diagnosis a secret even for many of his relatives
06:58and friends, including Sandler, who wrote on social media,
07:01"...Every one of us loved Norm.
07:03Some of the hardest laughs of my life with this man.
07:06Most fearless, funny, original guy we knew.
07:08An incredible dad, a great friend, a legend.
07:11Love you, pal."
07:12"...He'd just be so much fun to see.
07:13He had so much energy to hang."
07:16In 2022, Sandler shot two very different movies pretty much back-to-back, the action-comedy
07:21sequel Murder Mystery 2 and the sci-fi drama Spaceman.
07:25He largely acted as his own stuntman on both projects, and an injury sustained during one
07:30was exacerbated while working on the other.
07:33As he revealed to Variety at the Murder Mystery 2 premiere,
07:36"...I did Spaceman and I was hanging in the harness all the time.
07:39I kept saying, something's going on with my hip, man, I'm in trouble.
07:42And then during this and this other movie I did, I was like, yeah, I definitely gotta
07:46x-ray that thing, and we were in trouble."
07:49Soon after Sandler finished filming Murder Mystery 2, he ended up getting a hip replacement.
07:54As he lamented to Variety,
07:55"...Everything's scary at 56 years old.
07:57You never know what the hell you're gonna get up from.
07:59I'm sluggy, man.
08:01My body hurts."
08:03Over the course of his career, Adam Sandler has generated a lot of happy comedy out of
08:06some very negative emotions.
08:08In his early years especially, he specialized in playing immature men with anger management
08:13problems.
08:14One of his movies is even called Anger Management.
08:16As it turns out, Sandler shares a lot of those emotional and mental health issues as his
08:21characters.
08:22As he told the Little Goldman podcast in 2022,
08:24"...I just have a natural part of my brain that feels like I don't belong here.
08:28This feeling uncomfortable and loser stuff I've been doing for years, it's in me."
08:32Fortunately, though, Sandler says he's grown more peaceful with age.
08:35As he explained to AARP in 2022,
08:38"...I had a quick temper, quick reactions.
08:40I made a lot of dumb mistakes and said a lot of stupid things."
08:43Eventually, he turned things around, partly with the help of therapy.
08:47As he revealed,
08:48"...I talk to a shrink sometimes.
08:49He's given me a plan, sometimes just holding in a sentence, taking a beat for a minute
08:53before saying something stupid."
08:54If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text
08:59Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline
09:06at 1-800-950-NAMI, 1-800-950-NAMI, or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.