Why the Safdies compared Adam Sandler to Rainer Werner Fassbinder
While Adam Sandler had already earned widespread acclaim by the time he came to work with the Safdie brothers in 2019, the truth is that by collaborating with two of the most beloved contemporary directors, he gave his career yet another shot in the arm to bring him into a new night of cultural admiration.
Uncut Gems saw Josh and Benny Safdie bring Sandler in to play Howard Ratner, a Jewish-Ameircan jeweller and gambling addict living it out in the Diamond District of New York City. With the hopes of paying off his ever-increasing gambling debts, Howard tries to retrieve an incredibly valuable gem that he previously bought.
Sandler’s performance drew widespread acclaim, with some arguing that it was the best performance of his career. Of course, we mostly know Sandler by his many comedy works, but Uncut Gems showed that he could take on a more dramatic role, as he had previously in Paul Thomas Andersons’ Punch-Drunk Love, released back in 2002.
The Safdies were blown away by Sandler’s commitment to acting, and Josh had once told Roger Ebert, “Sandler is a workaholic. How do I put it? He has this thing behind his eyes, which is that he’s constantly searching; he’s constantly searching for something that can inspire him or take him to this other place. If he’s not working, he doesn’t know what’s going on. And that’s why his output is so intense.”
In fact, Safdie went on to compare Sandler to the German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, widely considered to be one of the pioneers of the New German Cinema movement. With more than 40 films to his name, Fassbinder’s work often looked into the aftermath of Nazi Germany and frequently collaborated with the same actors.
Among some of his most acclaimed works are the likes of The Marriage of Maria Braun, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, The Merchant of Four Seasons and Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. Fassbinder was a truly prolific director and amassed an impressive back catalogue despite working for only two decades before his untimely death caused by a combination of cocaine and barbiturates.
“I made a joke the other day that he was kind of like the filmmaker Fassbinder,” Josh Safdie had said of Sandler. “First of all, he gave an incredible amount of attention to the script. He had thoughts on the script, and he would share them.” Clearly, whatever Sandler was doing on the set of Uncut Gems proved that he was incredibly committed to the role.
“He was very, very dedicated to knowing every little moment and knowing every inspiration for those moments,” Safide added. “So you would shoot, and then you would wrap, and then he would be like, ‘Let’s go get dinner.’ And I’d be like, ‘Benny and I have our two-hour meeting that we have to do for tomorrow.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, you can do it after.’”
The Sandler-Safdies collaboration looks to be one that will continue for many years. Josh was responsible for directing his 100% comedy special, while Benny will appear in Happy Gilmore 2. The actor had been working with Josh on a baseball memorabilia movie, too, which proves that the trio just simply love working with one another, and judging from Josh’s comments and comparisons, it’s easy to see why.
