Adam Sandler Enjoys Playing Losers In Film For A Great Reason
Adam Sandler says he likes playing losers, because he admires them for never giving up.
Comedian Adam Sandler is known for standup comedy, including notable songs like “The Hannukah Song” or “Ode to My Car.” He is also well-known for movies and television, with 84 acting credits under his name. In most of his roles, he plays lovable losers, and in a recent interview with CBS, the celebrity said he enjoys playing losers because he admires them.
Talking about his role in his new movie Hustle, Sandler talks about a character under similar circumstances. As Stanley Sugerman, a discredited basketball scout, he spends the duration of the Netflix film fighting for a Spanish prodigy to join the NBA, despite many hurdles. Interviewer Tracy Smith asked him why he was drawn to roles that portray “unlucky… losers.”
He replied, “I guess I admire somebody who doesn’t give up,” explaining that since a young age, he enjoyed watching characters who needed to work harder than everyone else to achieve their goals. Many of his characters are comically immature, such as the titular Billy Madison or Sonny Koufax, his character in Big Daddy.
He is famous for characters that never grew up.
Adam Sandler movies are almost always about an underdog who overcomes negative qualities to excel. Happy Gilmore sees him overcome anger to become a golf star, Big Daddy is about his character’s journey from aimless schlub into the responsibilities of fatherhood, and in Click, he is an overworked father learning to appreciate the time he has. Even as the son of the Devil himself in Little Nicky, he is not as powerful or ruthless as his brothers.
He’s also known for more sensitive romantic comedies like The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates. Adam Sandler’s romantic comedies with Drew Barrymore are about men struggling to overcome the obstacles that stand between them and the women they love. In Blended, he plays a widower striving to raise three daughters and unexpectedly falls in love while on a family vacation in Africa.
Hustle is a comedy-drama that represents a more mature Adam Sandler. It was released on Netflix on June 8 after a limited theatrical preview and has already generated talk of an Oscar nomination after being confirmed as a recipient of this year’s Gotham Tribute Awards. The actor is not letting it affect him for now, saying that he’s not expecting it, but will be happy if it happens.
Adam Sandler built a comedy niche for himself after studying at the Lee Strasburg Studios at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, famously a school for method actors and drama. His comedies range from the intelligent to the absurd, but he is more than an actor. He is also the writer of many of his movies and all of his stand-up comedy and a musician with songs interspersed into his act, as well as a producer of his own work and that of his co-stars, such as Nick Swardson, Allen Covert, and Rob Schneider.
He also tours his stand-up act around the country with many of his colleagues, such as a recent tour that included Nick Swardson, Rob Schneider, and Judd Apatow. Adam Sandler is no underdog, but audiences love him because he’s so good at connecting with them on a level that causes us to support his character as he comes into his own. It’s good to know that Adam Sandler enjoys playing characters like that because it hints that we will see many more yet.
