The day Adam Sandler wanted Juan José Campanella to direct a film, but he didn’t get it

On September 9, 1966, Adam Sandler was born, one of the most successful comedians in Hollywood during the 21st century who turned most of the projects he took on with his own production company, Happy Madison, into successes. Despite his notoriety in the United States cinema, there was a plan that was cut short: he was looking for the Argentine Juan José Campanella to direct one of his films, which did not prosper.

There were two opportunities for this to happen. First with The Bride’s Son, one of the Argentine filmmaker’s highest-grossing films that premiered in 2001. The drama and romance film was seen by 1,694,000 people in the country, raised $8,500,000 and received the nomination for best foreign film at the Oscars. Although he did not win the award, Sandler was impressed by the film and bought the rights to remake it.

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Born in Brooklyn on September 8, 1966, Adam Richard Sandler’s intention was that the remake with which he hoped to impact Hollywood screens would be directed by Campanella himself and he would also write the new script. Although the filmmaker gave up.

“If it is the same, no, if it is very different, neither, but if they make a fresh version and do not betray the original, I could direct it. Because when I filmed The Bride’s Son, I put the camera as I wanted, and now I wouldn’t do anything different if the script were the same,” Campanella highlighted at that time.

Finally, the rights that the actor and producer had acquired expired and he could not play the role played by Ricardo Darín in the original film. Another part of the cast was already done: Dustin Hoffman would play the father, a role played by Héctor Alterio.

Adam Sandler and his second chance with Juan José Campanella

However, the remake of The Bride’s Son was not the closest they came to working together. In 2004, Sandler sought him out to direct another of his films: Click, which was finally released in 2006, grossing more than $240 million and receiving several nominations. There were meetings, trips and calls, but the opportunity was again thwarted. The film was ultimately directed by Frank Coraci.

Although he is one of the most recognized actors in the United States, Adam Sandler has never won an Oscar award. (Photo: Instagram / adamsandler)

Campanella reconstructed it like this in dialogue with Clarín: “Sandler sent me the script for Click in March 2004. I went to Hollywood, to the Sony studio, with my notes. And in August, while I was here fighting for the screen quota in the Luna de Avellaneda cinemas, they called me. Since I can’t travel, screenwriters Steve Koren and Mark O’Keefe are coming. They spent two weeks at the Alvear Hotel, and we even proposed changing the ending.”

“I was already putting together Vientos de agua, with my production company 100 bars, and in April they told me that pre-production on Click would start in June. I was in New York and Adam was in Los Angeles, and we chatted several times on the phone. There we talked about casting,” she recalled. The division of roles was the first short circuit between the director and the actor. The Argentinian admitted: “He told me that he had a lot to say about the performances of the rest of the cast. ‘Are you going to bank on it?’, He asked me.”

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The fact that he could lose autonomy when making decisions and the long time he would have to spend outside the country was what led Campanella to abandon the proposal once again. The director did not want to compromise the filming of Winds of Water, the television series that premiered in 2006. Although the relationship with Adam Sandler ended on good terms, they could not meet again to materialize their collaboration on the big screen.

Adam Sandler has more than 80 films in his filmography. The success of the actor and producer began to become noticeable in 1995, with the premiere of Bully Madison. This was followed by other events such as Happy Gilmore, Little Nicky, Mr. Deeds, Anger Management (with Jack Nicholson), Spanglish, Click, Jack and Jill, the Hotel Transylvania and Grown Ups sagas, and Uncut Gems. among other.