Adam Sandler Talks Upcoming Safdie Brothers Reunion, Gives Hilarious Speech at Gotham Awards

Adam Sandler said on the Gotham Awards red carpet on Monday night that fans should not expect a “handsome” look from him in his upcoming reunion with Uncut Gems directors Josh and Benny Safdie.

Speaking with Variety, Sandler—who most recently received praise for his performance in Netflix’s basketball drama Hustle—was asked whether he felt “pressure” to top Uncut Gems with his next Safdie Brothers entry.

“I don’t know. We’ll see what happens,” Sandler, who attended Monday night’s ceremony to accept a performer tribute award, said. “I know I’m gonna have a different look than I had. They send me pictures of a look that I’m gonna have and I can’t say that I’m gonna look that handsome in it.”

Asked if this meant he would be using prosthetics, Sandler confirmed that it did not.

“It’s not a handsome moment in my [career],” he added. “Yeah, it’s gonna be tough. You’ll see.”

For now, at least, the film in question doesn’t (publicly) have a title. In October, Deadline reported that the film would “likely” see the Safdies taking on “the world of high-end card collecting.”

As for Sandler’s appearance at the 2022 Gotham Awards, the actor and comedian delivered a remarkably hilarious speech after being introduced by Josh and Benny, who both opened the proceedings by reflecting on their personal connections to their collaborator’s earlier work.

“Like many of you out here tonight, I’ve been too busy to write a speech,” Sandler said when taking the stage. “So I told my daughters Sadie and Sunny, who are 16 and 14, I didn’t write a speech and they said phrases like ‘rude’ and ‘you’re mean.’ And I said, ‘Well, Daddy’s fucking tired. Daddy fucking works hard. Calm down.’”

From there, Sandler said that his daughters offered to write his speech for him, albeit under one condition.

“So they said, ‘Alright, we’ll write the speech. Will you do the speech in that goofy southern accent you always do all your dumb speeches in?’ I said, ‘Whatever. We’ll give it a shot.’”

And Sandler did indeed carry on in that manner, “goofy southern accent” included. Notable mentions in the speech included Timothée Chalamet, the phrase “legally squeeze,” Ben Stiller’s Meet the Parents franchise, “Rob Schneider’s fucking braces,” and “orgasmic critical acclaim.”

See Sandler’s full speech below.