Uncut Gems
Adam Richard Sandler is an actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He made his film debut in 1989 and founded the Happy Madison Productions in 1999. Sandler has made at least 80 films in his entire career, and now has a goal to be nominated for an Oscar. But did you know that Adam Sandler threatened to make a terrible movie on purpose?
When his film Uncut Gems began to receive positive reviews, Adam Sandler threatened to make the worst movie ever, if he did not receive an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Unfortunately, he was not nominated.
The Production and Plot of the Film
Josh and Benny Safdie co-wrote the screenplay with Ronald Bronstein for the 2019 American murder drama Uncut Gems. The film stars Adam Sandler, Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, and Eric Bogosian.
Howard Ratner, played by Sandler, was a Jewish-American jeweler and gambling addict in New York City’s Diamond District, who must collect a valuable gem he purchased to pay off his debts in the film. From September to November 2018, filming was conducted. Daniel Lopatin composed the original soundtrack. This was Sandler’s first wide release since 2015’s Pixels is Uncut Gems.
On August 30, 2019, Uncut Gems made its global debut at the Telluride Film Festival. It had a limited release in the United States on December 13, 2019, before A24 released it nationwide on December 25. The film got positive reviews, with numerous critics praising Sandler’s performance as the best of his career.
Uncut Gems was named one of the top ten films of 2019 by the National Board of Review, and Sandler took home the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. (Source: The New York Post)
The film grossed about $500,000 from five theaters in its limited opening weekend, for a per-venue average of almost $108,000 which was the highest ever for A24 and the second-best total of 2019.
The following weekend, the film grossed over $240,000. The film grossed almost $6 million on its first day of wide release, including $1.1 million from Christmas Eve previews, the highest single-day gross in A24’s history. (Source: Hollywood Reporter)
Uncut Gems was A24’s highest-grossing domestic film until it was surpassed in May 2022 by Everything Everywhere All at Once. (Source: Deadline)
Sandler Threatens To Make the Worst Film Ever
Sandler promised to make a bad movie if he didn’t win an Oscar for his dramatic performance in Uncut Gems in a December interview with Howard Stern.
If I don’t get it, I’m going to fucking come back and do one again that is so bad on purpose just to make you all pay. That’s how I get them.
Adam Sandler
Sandler, who wowed audiences and critics with his portrayal of a hustling jeweler with a sports gambling problem, never even made it to the finals. He was totally overlooked for a nomination.
Sandler, the man behind classics like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, responded to the Academy’s shocking diss in the most gracious way possible, tweeting that he wouldn’t have to wear suits anymore.
He also thanked Kathy Bates, who played his mother in the 1998 comedy The Waterboy and was nominated for best-supporting actress in Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell. Bates replied with a big heaping of love.
I love you my Bobby Boucher!!! You was robbed!!! But Mama loves you!!!
Kathy Bates
(Source: The New York Post)