Move over, Little Nicky! Adam Sandler is setting aside his usual funny voices and over-the-top caricatures in favor of a more introspective role in the upcoming sci-fi drama Spaceman. This is the latest in Sandler’s long run of Netflix movies, and it appears the actor will turn in a serious performance more akin to his turn in Hustlers and Uncut Gems than, say, Leo.
What’s Spaceman about?
Spaceman was written by Colby Day, based on the 2017 novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař. The Czech Republic author started this novel as a short story for a college project. It follows Jakub, an astronaut who is six months into a solo space mission when the lines between reality and fantasy begin to blur. As the solitude pushes him further into his own psyche, he realizes his wife back on Earth, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), might not be waiting for him when he returns. The astronaut explores the solar system while obsessing over his wife back on earth and what went wrong with their marriage, eventually forging an unlikely relationship with a mysterious alien creature called Hanuš (voiced by Paul Dano). This creature is found hiding in the hull of his spacecraft, and through their conversations, it tries to help Jakub with his relationship with Lenka while showing him greater truths about himself.
The newly released trailer for Spaceman actually shows what the creature is: a giant hairy brown spider. Yes, you read that correctly! For people like this writer, Spaceman is officially off the watch list! Arachnophobia is real, folks, and to borrow a quote from Arrested Development: “There are dozens of us. Dozens!”
A giant spider scuttling around inside a closed-up spacecraft a bazillion miles out in desolate space. Nothing anxiety-causing about that!
Who’s in the cast and crew?
Spaceman was directed by Johan Renck, the award-winning Swedish director of television, film, and music videos. He’s most famous for directing the HBO miniseries Chernobyl. Renck told Netflix that his intention with Spaceman is to show audiences a different side of Sandler.
“I really wanted to have a performance from him that had nothing to do with the Adam Sandler we all know,” he said. “I don’t think people understand how [although] he may come across as funny and sweet and all that, he’s very intelligent, really smart, profound.”
While much of the movie’s action features a solo Sandler and the voice of the alien, Kunal Nayyar also stars as technician Peter and Isabella Rossellini appears as Commissioner Tuma. Filming the zero-gravity scenes in Spaceman was no easy feat and included long periods of hanging from wires on a soundstage to simulate the gravity-free environment inside Jakub’s spaceship. Renck called shooting these scenes “tremendously uncomfortable,” and praised Sandler for not letting it get in the way of his performance.
The author is pleased with the adaptation
Netflix is being tight-lipped with details, but author Kalfař said he has seen Spaceman twice already and was “completely blown away.”
“I think all the people out there who love weird things and weird art will hopefully be delighted by it,” he said.
You had us at loving “weird things and weird art,” but lost a few of us with “giant spiders.” If, however, eight-legged monsters and galactic navel-gazing are your thing, Spaceman premieres on Netflix on March 1, 2024.
(featured image: Netflix)
