There are many iconic comedy characters on Adam Sandler’s acting resume, but the Spaceman star knows only one that would fit right in with a dramatic role. Sandler headlines the new Netflix movie Spaceman, based on Jaroslav Kalfař’s 2017 novel Spaceman of Bohemia. While the Spaceman adaptation is a drama, Sandler is widely known for his comedic roles in films such as Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, and more. The prolific actor isn’t afraid to show off his acting chops in heavier roles like Uncut Gems, which begs the question of if a Happy Gilmore or Billy Madison would acclimate themselves the best in a drama.
ComicBook.com spoke to Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan about Netflix’s Spaceman, where Sandler was asked which of his iconic comedy characters could transition into a dramatic film. “I think every one of them has some sadness about them,” Sandler said. After teasing Mulligan about her football fandom, he replied, “It would be fun seeing a serious movie with Bobby [Boucher from The Waterboy]. That’d be nice.”
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What is the Netflix movie Spaceman about?
The official description for Spaceman reads, “Six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, an astronaut, Jakub (Adam Sandler), realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. Hanuš (voiced by Paul Dano) works with Jakub to make sense of what went wrong before it is too late. Directed by Johan Renck and based on the novel Spaceman of Bohemia, the film also stars Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin, and Isabella Rossellini.”
Spaceman director says film almost had a different ending
ComicBook.com caught up with Spaceman director Johan Renck, who revealed new details about the film’s ending. Renck said that they swapped the original planned ending for something with a bit of a more hopeful tone. Spaceman filmed during the pandemic, and Renck admitted that the global outlook could have affected his feelings about the ending. People’s hopes are remarkable at the end of the day, and that ray of light ended up factoring into the director’s decision.
“No, they did not always plan for that. And, it’s funny how that kind of works because to some extent, anything you do is going to be very much subjected to where you are on your personal journey at that very moment,” Renck mused. “We shot this film during the pandemic. At the sort of ‘tail end of it’ and so on and so forth. There was a certain sort of slightly dystopia view on us as humans in the world at that end. And at some point, the ending was not gonna be like it was in the book. But, it was less hopeful to be honest, but then I guess I’m getting old. I don’t know what it is, but I really felt that we need to show the beauty of…”
“Like Hanus says in the end of the film. But, you know when Jakob says, ‘I feel fear’ and Hanus says ‘But, you also feel hope, that is the wisdom of your kind.’ I do think that is the wisdom of our kind. It is the sense of hope and the fact that we, no matter how bad things might look, we have this ability to look for grains of hope within that. And I do think that it became at least slightly a more impressionistic ending towards something that would really suggest that we don’t know if they’re going to get back together again. But, at least they’re going to try.
Spaceman is now available to stream on Netflix.
