Tom Cruise helped Adam Sandler get one of his best roles ever

In the 1990s and very early 2000s, imagining Adam Sandler in a critically acclaimed movie was very difficult. Perhaps even unthinkable.

He became popular as a standup comic in the late ’80s – his talent as a storyteller brought him to the public’s attention; and then he was cast in the television sketch show Saturday Night Live (SNL), where he worked as an actor from 1990 to 1995.

This took his comedy career to a new level – Sandler began to be invited to movies for starring roles. It can be said that it was SNL that made him famous. In the 90’s, the following comedies with his participation were released: \

And while audiences embraced Adam Sandler and applauded him to the pinnacle of fame, critics \

Critics considered Sandler a vulgarian who did not aim too high and had enough of the modest intellectual level that comedy scripts implied for his characters. Despite the fact that his colleagues on the set were such respected actors as Drew Barrymore and Steve Buscemi, Sandler’s \

And so, in 2001, it became known that Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA, Paul Thomas Anderson), one of the brightest young authors working at the turn of the millennium, invited Adam Sandler to star in his fourth feature film – a romantic dramedy \

PTA had numerous short films and three feature films to its credit at the time – Fatal Eight (1996, Hard Eight), Boogie Nights (1997, Boogie Nights) and Magnolia (1999, Magnolia).

This has everyone extremely surprised. PTA recently released the movie \

Critics raised their snobbish eyebrows as high as possible: now Anderson was going to work with Sandler; and this right after his paltry Little Nicky, Devil Jr. with 22% on Rotten Tomatoes? While the critical community was recovering from the panic attack and coming to terms with the so-called insult, ironically, the beloved movie mogul, whose third film was a cinematic event, launched production on his new project.

Adam Sandler revealed on the SmartLess podcast in 2020 that his journey to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Love That Knocks Down project began in 1993. It was when Nicole Kidman was a guest on an episode of Saturday Night Live. At the time, Kidman was married to Tom Cruise, so her husband joined the show and unexpectedly exchanged phone numbers with Sandler.

Years later, when Paul Thomas Anderson was working on the drama Magnolia, starring Tom Cruise, the director confided in Cruise that he would like to work with this touching comedy clown. According to Adam Sandler’s admission on that podcast, Tom Cruise called him and asked for permission to put Anderson on the phone. The director said he liked the comedy Billy Madison and Sandler’s movies in general, and said he’d like to write a screenplay for him. Adam Sandler himself didn’t know who PTA was at the time, but he was pleased to hear it and accepted his offer.

The movie \

Overall, \

Anderson’s creative risk-taking didn’t benefit his movie at the box office, but it proved that Adam Sandler knew how to be serious (though the actor feared he’d ruin the movie). Nearly twenty years later, Benny and Josh Safdie’s 2019 drama Uncut Gems will be released, and Adam Sandler will once again show his serious side. The movie will have a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics will say about the actor that he delivers good drama when he gets the right material.

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