Hubie Halloween may have only landed on Netflix a couple of weeks ago, and continued the actor’s impressive winning streak of incredibly popular titles, but Adam Sandler is already hard at work on his next exclusive project for the streaming service. Having threatened to make a terrible movie on purpose after being snubbed at the Academy Awards for his performance in Uncut Gems, let’s hope that Hustle doesn’t see him making good on his promise.
The sports comedy was only announced in May, but cameras are now rolling on the latest Happy Madison effort. The story focuses on a washed up basketball scout who discovers an incredible player in China and wants to bring him over to the United States to join the NBA. And in an unusual twist for a Sandler film, Hustle was pitched to him by Netflix after they acquired the script from Legendary.
In an even more surprising development, neither director Jeremiah Zagar or co-writers Will Fetters and Taylor Materne have ever worked with the beloved actor before, while LeBron James is co-producing through his SpringHill Entertainment banner. The cast list has also been announced, and shockingly, there’s no sign of Kevin James, David Spade, Rob Schneider or Steve Buscemi so far.
Instead, Hustle has gathered Queen Latifah, Robert Duvall, Maria Botto and Ben Foster, the latter of whom is one of the last people you’d expect to show up in an Adam Sandler comedy given his preference for challenging material that allows him to stretch himself as an actor, not to mention his notoriously intense screen presence. Based on the talent involved, the Big Daddy star’s latest is shaping up to be an entirely different venture for someone known for sticking rigidly to formula, and we can’t wait to see it.