The 10-Year Journey That Led To Adam Sandler's Role In Uncut Gems

Adam Sandler gleefully recounted the "Uncut Gems" casting ordeal during a 2019 appearance on Conan O'Brien's "Conan" (via YouTube). According to Sandler, "They [the Safdie brothers] wrote it for me about 10 years ago. They sent it to me. Sandy [Wernick] got ahold of it, my manager, and said 'Absolutely not.'" The actor continued, claiming that after his manager passed on "Uncut Gems," the Safdies unsuccessfully shopped the script to other actors. Fast forward five years, and they tried their luck with Sandler once again. For the second time, the "Uncut Gems" screenplay did not make its way to Sandler's hands, with his manager passing on his behalf. 

Another five years passed before they went back to Sandler with "Uncut Gems." In that time, however, the Safdies had built a bit of a reputation for themselves on the strength of lauded indie dramas like 2014's "Heaven Knows What," and the 2017 Robert Pattinson vehicle "Good Time," per The New Yorker. Those films may well have greased the wheels in getting past Sandler's manager. They certainly swayed Sandler, who told O'Brien that after reading the script, "I saw their other movies ... and I got excited to do it ["Uncut Gems"] with them." 

That hard-earned partnership garnered some of the best critical notes of Sandler's career (per Rotten Tomatoes). It even earned the man an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead, an opportunity he used to hilariously skewer the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after his Oscars snub. And yes, according to Entertainment Weekly it also earned Sandler a follow-up project with the guys who waited a decade to land him for "Uncut Gems."