

Then we rewrote it, briefly, to maybe do a Kobe thing. We went down a little road - it was 10 years that we spent working on this thing. During an interview with The Ringer in 2019, the Safdie brothers revealed that they thought of multiple players, including the late Kobe Bryant, before making Kevin Garnett the final pick.

That superstar ended up being the great Kevin Garnett of the 2008 NBA Champions Boston Celtics, although the role was originally supposed to go another direction.
#Adam sandler gems uncut movie
Uncut Gems is really just as much about professional basketball as it is about gambling, crime, or the diamond district, and so the movie required a major NBA star to add a level of the realism to the final picture. Kevin Garnett Wasn’t The Original NBA Player Thought Of For The Role

It's not every day that kind of request happens. It's about where they are right now, and they discussed what the highs and lows were and why they couldn't stop and that kind of feeling.Īdam Sandler concluded his remarks by revealing that many of the shop owners in the diamond district welcomed him into their shops and their corner of the jewelry industry to provide more a more accurate portrayal. It's just their lives get thrown away and their family lives get thrown away. I gamble in the movie a lot, so I spent a lot of time with a lot of gamblers who had bad problems and lost a lot of things and lost their lives because of it.

He explained it during a 2019 Hollywood Reporter actor roundtable, saying: That's partially due to the extensive research Sandler conducted while preparing for the role, which included having multiple meetings with hardcore gamblers and people with other severely compulsive issues. At times in the movie, it's easy to forget that this is the same guy from Big Daddy. Throughout Uncut Gems, Adam Sandler gives a performance that is unlike anything he's done in the past. Where was that kind of clutch advice whenever he agreed to make movies like Jack and Jill and Ridiculous 6, and some of the other more questionable Happy-Madison movies from the last 10 or so years?Īdam Sandler Surrounded Himself With Gambling Addicts To Prepare For The Film So she read it and was like, ‘You have to do it.’ Right when she says I have to do it I go, ‘OK.’ I jumped in and I had to do so many scenes where bad things happen and I have to be naked and stuff – that’s terrible for everybody – but it was an amazing time. We do this together, me and Jackie, we discuss what I’m gonna do and she gives me strength and courage to jump into this stuff. I read it and I loved the movie, but I was scared to do it. During a 2019 appearance on Ellen, Adam Sandler credited his wife with making the final push to convince him to work with the Safdie brothers on Uncut Gems, stating: That is, until his wife Jackie Titone got involved. And even though Sandler saw a lot of potential in the role, he was initially reluctant to sign on. After making the choice not to go with HIll, the brothers thought to try reaching out to Adam Sandler's camp one more time, and the rest is history.Īdam Sandler’s Wife Convinced Him To Accept The Role Of Howard Ratnerīeyond well-picked roles in Punch-Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, and The Meyerowitz Stories, Adam Sandler has largely stayed away from darker, dramatic films throughout his career, which is what made his turn as Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems so engaging. Jonah Hill is around 17 years younger than Adam Sandler, so that could have been a big swing in the opposite direction. Eventually Jonah got carried away and got swept up with his own film and then the subsequent shooting of Maniac. But we couldn’t figure out a way to 'youth' the character down. Jonah Hill wanted to work together, and we thought it’d be really cool to work with our contemporaries. Hill said he wanted to be a part of the project, but the actor's young age became a problem as Josh Safdie noted: During a 2019 interview with Vox, the Safdie brothers explained that they were considering working with Sacha Baron Cohen at one point before Jonah Hill came into the picture around 2017. The answer was still no, however, which resulted in the directors pursuing other actors. Jonah Hill Was Attached To Uncut Gems At One Point, But His Age Become A ProblemĪfter the Safdie brothers struck out in 2012 when trying to dream-cast Adam Sandler for the role of Howard Ratner, they tried a second time, offering Sandler the role again in 2015.
