NEW YORK, July 25 (UPI) — What We Do in the Shadows and Murder Mystery director Kyle Newacheck says the new comedy Happy Gilmore 2 was made for lifelong Adam Sandler fans like himself.
“I had to insert myself into the audience chair more than normal because I, too, am a fan of the first one, so I really tried to approach it with the love of the first one and I really enjoyed that,” Newacheck, 41, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
“That’s a critical part of my comedic DNA,” he explained. “I was 12 when I watched it. I didn’t know I wanted to be a director at that point, but I think it did inform me of what I should do.”
He added that the sequel is made “with a lot of respect towards the first one and then a desire to make something new that stands on its own two feet.”
Left to right, Bad Bunny, Julie Bowen and Adam Sandler arrive on the red carpet for Netflix’s “Happy Gilmore 2” New York premiere at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Monday. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Premiering Friday on Netflix, the movie finds the titular former hockey bad boy-turned-champion golfer (Adam Sandler) down on his luck and coming out of retirement to pay for a prestigious Parisian dance school for his teen daughter Vienna (Sunny Sandler).
Adam Sandler wrote the screenplay with Tim Herlihy.
Director Kyle Newacheck and his wife Marisa attend the premiere of “Murder Mystery” at the Regency Village Theatre in the Westwood section of Los Angeles in 2019. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
Julie Bowen returns for the sequel as Happy’s supportive wife, Virginia, Christopher Macdonald as his frenemy Shooter McGavin, and the late Carl Weathers is seen in flashback as Happy’s mentor Chubbs.
The film balances the laughs with the emotion that comes from real-life challenges such as addiction, grief and financial insecurity.
“Broad comedies — comedies that put the genre first — need to have those deeper themes, if you want your audience to feel, and we wanted people to feel and feel good,” Newacheck said.
“The only way you can get the heart warm is if you kind of earn it… going through trials and tribulations. What Happy is up against in this sequel is hard. They’re hard things to get through. When you see your character make peace with those tough, relatable life milestones, for a lack of a better term, you feel good. You feel positive for the character.”
When the sequel catches up to him, Happy also is the father of Vienna’s four rambunctious brothers, played by Ethan Cutkosky, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Philip Fine Schneider and Conor Sherry.
Newacheck loved filming group scenes where the chaotic crew constantly argues and loudly talks over each other.
“That’s how real conversations go down! Not everybody waits for their turn to say their line,” the filmmaker said.
“Adam loves it, too,” he added. “I’ve seen him be a father to his two daughters [in real life] often and that’s a certain person, but, in the moment, to have four boys that are surrounding him, it was really cool to watch him be a dad to four boys.”
Bowen has been candid in recent interviews about feeling surprised that Sandler wanted her back for the sequel, given that middle-aged women are sometimes replaced as love interests when there is a big time gap between movies.
But Newacheck insisted that hiring a younger actress was never even discussed.
“Julie Bowen brings an energy that is unrivaled. She was there when the first one started. She’s knows Happy Gilmore better than anybody, so when she’s on set, she can click right into that and watching her and Adam click into that love, that genuine admiration for each other is real,” Newacheck said.
“I could not see a world where there was a recast of Julie Bowen. She is phenomenal and I really enjoyed working with her. I love watching her. She truly is the heart of this movie and she knew that. She knew she was the heart and she played it right.”
Several scene-stealers, including Weathers, Bob Barker, Richard Kiel and Frances Bay — died in between the making of the two movies, but Sandler and Newacheck lovingly included meaningful nods to them in Happy Gilmore 2.
“We tried to use as much care and as much love as we could when bringing them back and trying to bring them back in a way that services the humor, but also makes you fondly remember those that helped build this universe,” Newacheck said.
