In “Spaceman,” Paul Dano voices Hanuš, a giant alien spider that Czech cosmonaut Jakub Procházka (Adam Sandler) encounters in the outer reaches of the galaxy. As a calming voice of reason for the sole space traveler, Hanuš is pushing Jakub — whose mind is in torment over past traumas and ongoing marital strife with his wife (Carey Mulligan) — to confront his troubles before they destroy him.
In real life, Dano said he would never push Sandler in the direction of a serious comic book movie role like the Riddler to confront the complexities of the mind. After all, Dano told Looper, Sandler has already proven in movies like Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch-Drunk Love” and Benny and Josh Safdie’s “Uncut Gems” that he has an incredible acting range. “From PTA to the Safdies and to [“Spaceman”], those are real performances,” Dano said. “They’re not just, ‘Hey, let’s just downplay it a little bit. Let’s just turn the volume down on Adam Sandler a little bit.’ When you watch ‘Uncut Gems’ and you watch ‘Spaceman,’ you see it’s real work. It’s a real character, a real performance, and I think that everybody now sees that so I don’t even think he needs a push.”
Sandler said he realized early on that there were no limitations for comedic actors when he joined his dad to watch legendary “Honeymooners” star Jackie Gleason in the title role in the 1962 film classic “Gigot.”
“It was exciting to see him do something different that I wasn’t used to,” Sandler recalled. “I’m lucky to get to do stuff like this. ‘Spaceman’ is definitely a new vibe.”
Directed by Johan Renck, “Spaceman” debuts on Netflix on March 1.
