USA: Adam Sandler premieres his latest comedy "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" in Los Angeles

Record ID: 220250

  • Title: USA: Adam Sandler premieres his latest comedy "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" in Los Angeles
  • Date: 29th May 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) EMMANUELLE CHRIQUI, SAYING: "Peoples that are so close have their own culture but are so close, and all the turmoil, there's got to be a way to figure out peaceful ways to live and be together, and that's what I feel the movie shows."
  • Embargoed: 13th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA37HG8J29IAXJ8C7JZV990LP9H
  • Story Text: Adam Sandler's latest comedy about a former Israeli Intelligence officer who follows his dream of becoming a hairstylist, "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," will offer audiences a return to Sandler's trademark wackiness, but politics also play a role in this film.
    Adam Sandler, well known for his stint on Saturday Night Live and subsequent film comedies based on ludicrous scenarios, gets a little more political with his latest film, "You Don't Mess With the Zohan,"
    which premiered in Los Angeles on Wednesday (May 28). The film, which makes light of the Arab-Israeli conflicted, was created to bridge the gap between the two cultures by showing they are more alike than they are different.

    "We know it's a touchy subject," says Sandler, "but we wanted people to have a good time, there is a lot of making fun in the movie, but ultimately it's like most of my life, I do try to make movies that are funny but ultimately make people feel good at the end of the flick, and that's what this one is."
    In "Zohan," Sandler plays a former member of Israeli Intelligence Agency Mossad who is trained to kill Arabs but escapes that violent life to become a hairstylist in New York City, only to find there that Arabs and Israelis live side-by-side in somewhat of a harmonious environment.
    The filmmakers believe it might offend certain groups, a possibility they embrace as "Zohan" prepares to make North American debut.

    "It feels like it's a Don Rickles routine," says writer Judd Apatow, "it should offend everyone, really deeply, and then kind of be okay, because the point of the movie is that all of the conflict, you know it's sad that there's so much conflict, and why shouldn't we mock it."
    Sandler, who wrote the film's script with Judd Apatow, who directed "Knocked Up," and Robert Smigel, a former SNL writer, first thought up the idea for "Zohan" eight years ago -- but shelved the project after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, deeming it to be inappropriate.

    "We were talking about doing that movie and when 9/11 happened we thought it would be a bad time to talk about something like this, but it's, ultimately, we did it now, we think that it's all right to laugh at some of this stuff now, hopefully, and if people take offence to some of it, that's not the intention," says Sandler.
    As for the craziness factor that Sandler's films are typically saturated with, there is plenty of that to go around -- Sandler appears nude in the film, and has affairs with several older women.

    "Adam got in good shape," says Rob Schneider, "He's kind of got a hockey ass, but he did all right in this movie, you can see it in the movie, that's him. I couldn't believe it, he'll never be in that good shape again, trust me. It's only because he loved this role, he'll never do it again, there will never be another role he loves as much."

    "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" opens in the United States on Friday, June 6.
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