Adam Sandler’s reunion with “Uncut Gems” filmmakers the Safdie brothers has been delayed due to the strikes. The actor said the plan was to shoot the untitled new film during the Major League Baseball season, but because of the double strike in Hollywood, production was unable to spin up before the season ended.
“We’re not sure right now,” Sandler told Collider when asked when the film would start shooting. “We kind of missed the opportunity of baseball season because of the strike. 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. I’m not sure when it’s gonna happen.”
The project is an original story from Josh and Benny Safdie set in the world of sports memorabilia, and was set up at Netflix in 2022.
In July, however, Benny Safdie exited the director’s chair leaving his brother Josh Safdie to direct the new feature on his own.
“It just felt like, OK, there’s things that I want to explore that don’t necessarily align right now with Josh,” Benny Safdie told GQ. “So it’s a divide and conquer mentality. He wants to tell this story, he can go and do that. I’m going to go and do a couple of other things. It seems like a natural progression for how things have happened.”
Sandler turned in an acclaimed performance in the Safdie brothers’ 2019 film “Uncut Gems,” winning a number of awards including an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor. The duo has been working on this new project tailor-made for Sandler since that time.
The baseball season picks back up in the spring, so there exists an opportunity to get production up and running in 2024 if schedules align.
