How Adam Sandler helped Brendan Fraser land a major movie role

Who doesn’t love a redemption story? We’re talking about the underdog arcs of the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Robert Pattinson and Zac Efron, who overpowered their early typecast roles and strived for more. Yet, in the world of cinema, there are few other better tales of redemption and reinvention than Adam Sandler and Brendan Fraser, two actors from seemingly opposite sides of the industry who thrived as a result of their close friendship.

It was back in 1994, at the dawn of the duo’s career, that Sandler gave Fraser a significant helping hand into the industry, working tirelessly to get him cast in the cult classic comedy Airheads, which told the story of three band members who are so desperate for fame they hold up a radio station with plastic guns. Despite the eventual success of the film, Sandler recalled how director Michael Lehmann was “very against” casting Fraser.

In an interview with Variety, Sandler explained: “I eventually went to his house at like 4 in the morning, woke him up, and I said, ‘Just know Adam Sandler ain’t going to be in Airheads unless old Fraser is in it.’ So he changed his little tune”.

Later, he expressed his joy working on the film, recalling, “That was one of the best shoots of my life, without a doubt. We would drive to the Fox lot and just get there at around 4:30. Sun’s going down. We’d have our snacks, get into our clothes, do our scenes. And, man, the best party of all time”.

Sharing relatively similar career trajectories, both Sandler and Fraser climbed the ranks of Hollywood in the 1990s, with the former taking more of a comedy-centric route with films such as Big Daddy and Little Nicky, whilst the latter chose big budget action flicks, starring in the successful Mummy franchise. The pair found the odd critical success, too, with Crash and Punch-Drunk Love respectively earning them praise from an entirely different fan base.

Taking paycheck roles in middling comedies and action movies, the pair have even reached critical acclaim in contemporary cinema at around the same time again, with Sandler thriving in the Safdie brothers movie Uncut Gems whilst Fraser earned an Academy Award for Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale.

“You had a good life because of me!” Sandler jokingly told Fraser in the interview before the latter showered the comedian in praise, outlining just how much he learned from the star.

“I took myself very seriously in those days,” Fraser recalled, “I remember watching you actually improvising while on film, which was a big deal. Lehmann would go, ‘Just go — go.’ And Mitch Dubin shot it: ‘How much you have left in the magazine?’ ‘We got 90 seconds. Okay, Adam, go!’ It was thrilling to watch because we take that for granted now that things are digital”.

Take a look at a clip of the pair in action in Airheads, below.