We never thought we’d say this, but Empire misses Adam Sandler: the old, angry, feisty, zesty Adam Sandler, who turned rage into an art form and who, along with arguably Will Ferrell and John Cleese, is the best comedy shouter in the business.
Last we saw him, he was getting all weepy and sentimental in Click; next up is another (supposedly excellent) straight acting gig in 9/11-inspired drama, Reign Over Me, and frankly it’s been a while since he did a comedy that had any real edge – 2000’s Little Nicky (not as bad as its reputation, honest), to be exact. Since then, it’s virtually been rom-coms all the way.
But the old risk-taking Sandler could be on the way back, if the plot of his latest, just-announced movie is anything to go by. You Don’t Mess With The Zohan – co-written by Sandler, Judd Apatow and Robert Smigel – will see Sandler play Zohan, a Mossad agent (that’s Israel’s unbelievably tough Secret Service) who fakes his death, moves to New York and becomes… a hairdresser.
That’s all we know, but the potential for all kinds of surreal (and almost certainly offensive, not to mention probably controversial) material is there. It certainly looks like it could be Sandler’s first R-rated comedy since 1996’s Bulletproof – after all, Apatow seems to be on a mission to bring back adult comedy with The 40 Year Old Virgin and the forthcoming Knocked Up, while Smigel is perhaps best known, certainly in the States, as the creator of Triumph The Insult Comic Dog. Throw in Sandler’s first script contribution since 2002’s awful animated comedy, Eight Crazy Nights, and this looks like You Don’t Mess With The Zohan could be an interesting mix.
Columbia Pictures are in talks to pick up the project, with a view to a summer 2008 release.