Adam Sandler announces Benny Safdie in cast for ‘Happy Gilmore 2’
Actor and comedian Adam Sandler is set to return to one of his most iconic roles. Back in the mid-1990s, Sandler played the titular, hyper-aggressive hockey player-turned-golfer in Happy Gilmore, and now he will play him once again in Happy Gilmore 2.
Sandler has also just announced the cast of Happy Gilmore 2, and it looks like he will once again be collaborating with Benny Safdie. The two have previously worked together on the Safdie Brothers’ film Uncut Gems, and Josh Safdie recently directed Sandler’s stand-up comedy special Love You.
In a recent interview with IndieWire, Sandler spoke of what it was like being directed by a Safdie for a further time. “He was very hands-on,” the actor and comedian said. “Right when he became a part of it, he had thought after thought, and I thought I was just going to do a standard stand-up special.”
According to Sandler, Safdie had many ideas about how the special should go down, and there’s a big love between the Safdie brothers and Sandler, with Sandler also announcing something about Happy Gilmore 2 and the brothers.
“And by the way, Benny is in Happy Gilmore 2, and he’s going to have a juicy part in that,” he said. “So it’s fun to be [back] with these guys.”
Additionally, during an appearance on The Tonight Show, Sandler revealed that Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce will also feature in the movie, stating, “He’s gonna come by. He’s a very nice guy. You guys would love him in real life. What a big, handsome guy. Funny and cool as hell. He’s a stud and he’s so funny.”
Christopher McDonald, who starred in the first movie, had recently got his hands on a script from Sandler and said he was blown away by what he read. “I saw Adam about two weeks ago, and he says to me, ‘McDonald, you’re going to love this,’” McDonald explained. “I said, ‘What?’ He says, ‘How about that,’ and he shows me the first draft of Happy Gilmore 2.”
Netflix is currently working on Happy Gilmore 2, the sequel to the 1996 sports comedy in which Sandler plays an ice hockey player who discovers he has a talent for gold and enters a tournament in order to save his grandmother’s home from being foreclosed.
Sandler is also looking to continue his work with Josh Safdie with their baseball memorabilia movie, which has been on hold for a short while. “We kind of missed the opportunity of baseball season because of the strike,” Sandler said in reference to the SAG-AFTRA disruption. “A lot of it was gonna be shot during live baseball. So it’s gonna take a minute. We’re figuring it all out right now.”
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