TheQuartering [9/6/2021]
No one can upset Daddy China.
Adam Sandler’s next Netflix original movie is “Hustle,” a basketball comedy that pairs the actor with acclaimed “We the Animals” helmer Jeremiah Zagar. The film casts Sandler as a basketball recruiter who travels overseas to try and convince an international basketball star to come to the U.S. and play in the NBA. During a recent appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” Sandler revealed that Netflix altered the movie’s original concept that saw his character traveling to China to find a basketball star.
“It was written originally that I find a player in China and somehow, Netflix is not in China,” Sandler said. “So they were like, ‘Would you guys please make it so we find someone in Latin America or Europe?’ So the next thing you know, I’m in Majorca [Spain]…[but] it was originally, ‘Find a player in China.’”
Netflix does not operate in China, thus it would not want to make an original movie with a plot that hinges on the country. The move to Spain opened up the door for real-life NBA basketball player Juancho Hernangómez to be cast opposite Sandler. Hernangómez got his start in the NBA playing for the Denver Nuggets and was recently traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Memphis Grizzlies.
“[Hernangómez] acts better than me in every scene,” Sandler said. “It’s just like, god damn it. This guy is falling, crying in the middle of a scene, doing the right thing. Every joke he says, I’m like, ‘He said it smoother than I would have.’”