Wat-Not Staff
Tuesday, August 20, saw Schneider, 60, supporting Sandler at the New York City premiere of his new Netflix comedy special Adam Sandler: Love You. Schneider then chatted with PEOPLE about how the 57-year-old star of Murder Mystery 2 has been a constant friend to him.
Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler friendship
“There’s not been a week in 30 years where he doesn’t check in on me. I mean, that’s true. No matter where I am in the world, I’ll get a phone call, sometimes in the middle of the night,” Schneider recalls. “He called me from Italy, [and said], ‘What are you doing?’ I go, ‘It’s two o’clock in the morning.’ ‘Well get up. I need to talk to you. Are you good?’ “
The two have also been frequent on-screen partners for a long time, having originally connected in the 1980s when they were both aspiring comedians. After starring together in The Waterboy in 1998, they went on to collaborate on over a dozen subsequent films.
Schneider thanked Sandler for including him in so many of his major undertakings.”We’ve been friends for five decades now. He’s a special cat, and for him to include me in all this stuff ever is just, it’s incredible,” the Dead Wrong actor tells PEOPLE. “I mean, I really, I don’t have any words to say except I love him and I just want him to be healthy, happy, successful. He’s just incredible.”
“And he’s doing Happy Gilmore 2,” he adds. “How amazing is that?” In response to a question about whether he will be working with his longtime partner on the sequel to the 1996 golf comedy, Schneider says, “We’ll see.”
“He’s just getting started,” Schneider said, tipping his cap to his friend’s achievement as he considered Sandler’s thriving career. It’s stunning. He was amazing at Hustle, and Uncut Gems is amazing. “He’s collaborating with exceptionally skilled individuals,” adds Schneider, who gained notoriety lately due to his strained bond with his daughter Elle King.
Sandler talks about his projects
Sandler told PEOPLE at the launch on Thursday that he was excited about directing the eagerly anticipated Happy Gilmore sequel. “I’m more than excited, probably the most excited I’ve been in many years to shoot something,” he states. “We worked hard trying to write something that we thought people would have a good time with.”
On May 15, Netflix officially announced that Sandler and the streamer will be collaborating on the follow-up. A few months later, the 50 First Dates actor disclosed that tight end Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs will be one of several players making appearances in the upcoming movie during an interview on The Tonight Show on August 20.
“We didn’t want to let anybody down. People have been asking me for a long time, ‘Do Happy Gilmore 2,’ and I was always like, ‘Nah, I’ll only let you down,’ ” Sandler recalled. “But then me and my buddy Tim Herlihy, we came up with this idea, we’re really excited about it, we wrote our asses off, we’re continuing to try to make it a movie that you guys will like and I think it’s — we’re excited. So many golfers are being nice and they’re going to be a part of it and all.”
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