Adam Sandler Making A Movie About OJ Simpson’s Infamous Arrest?
Adam Sandler says his next film with the Safdie brothers is in the sports memorabilia world, setting off speculation it's about O.J. Simpson's Vegas assault and subsequent arrest.
In a recent interview with Collider, Adam Sandler hinted that his next film with the writers/directors of Uncut Gems would be “in the sports memorabilia world,” setting off widespread speculation it’s about OJ Simpson’s fateful arrest. No, not the one with the white Bronco and the murder, the other arrest in 2007 following the Naked Gun star assaulting a memorabilia dealer in his hotel room. This less-famous arrest has been tossed around as a movie topic for years, as this Tweet from former Jeopardy! Champion Lance St. Laurent can attest:
The initial tweet was sent over three years ago, requesting a movie about the Vegas hotel assault. Kobe Bryant would be proud of St. Laurent’s called shot, which might still not be happening, but it really looks like it is. Again, everyone is just speculating off of a brief comment Adam Sandler made in one interview, but given the success of Uncut Gems and the infamy of OJ Simpson, this could be another fantastic film.
We’re still not at the point where Sandler in a dramatic role isn’t a cause for celebration but a routine occurrence. Uncut Gems was his best performance to date, showing a jeweler in a downward spiral that continually gets into business with the wrong people, escalating horribly in every scene. A dramatization of Simpson’s violent yet carefully planned assault would be a fitting follow-up thematically.
In this hypothetical film, picture Adam Sandler as the sports memorabilia dealer getting conned by a sports star that he’s a fan of as a stand-in for OJ Simpson. What is supposed to be a mutually beneficial business transaction slowly escalates as Sandler’s character realizes he’s in danger before violence erupts. To put this in perspective, take the first scene from Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, but Sandler’s dealer is the farmer, and the Simpson proxy is Christoph Waltz.
That sounds like an amazing building block for a successful follow-up to Uncut Gems. According to the Billy Madison star, he’s getting together with the Safdie brothers later this summer to start filming their mysterious new film. That production date means we won’t see the new film until next year, at the earliest, but just as everyone waited decades to see Simpson behind bars, we can wait for another dramatic performance.
In the meantime, Adam Sandler stars with Jennifer Aniston in the follow-up to their Netflix hit, Murder Mystery 2, which premieres later this week. The two play a married couple that again finds themselves wandering into the middle of a murder mystery they intend to solve, despite lacking jurisdiction, authority, or good sense.
