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Season 2 of the The Sandman went into production last year, then had to be put on pause for a while due to the writers and actors strikes. Thankfully, The Sandman season 2 was able to resume production as soon as those strikes came to an end, and a couple months ago we heard that new cast additions include Esmé Creed-Miles (Hanna) as Delirium, Adrian Lester (Hustle) as Destiny, and Barry Sloane (Pleasureland) as The Prodigal. When Netflix ordered season 2, they said, “The Sandman will return with new episodes based on multiple volumes of the Neil Gaiman graphic novel to explore even more stories of the Endless.“

Netflix has shared a new behind-the-scenes clip from the upcoming episodes and shared by Deadline. In the new look, Tom Sturridge‘s character, Dream (aka Morpheus), is seen bonding with his siblings. Plus, the eponymous character meets a few other familiar faces from Neil Gaiman‘s comic book series.

Step back into the tumultuous world of baseball legend Pete Rose in the premiere episode of “Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose,” airing Wednesday, July 24, 2024, at 9:00 Pm on HBO. Titled “The Longshot,” this episode chronicles Pete Rose’s enduring journey, marked by his relentless pursuit of reinstatement into Major League Baseball at the age of 81. Despite a lifetime ban stemming from gambling controversies more than three decades ago, Rose remains a figure of controversy and fascination in the sports world.

Viewers will delve into Rose’s storied career, from his gritty playing style that earned him the nickname “Charlie Hustle” to his pivotal role in transforming the Cincinnati Reds into a powerhouse team during the 1970s. The episode promises an intimate portrayal of Rose’s life on and off the field, offering insights into his personal challenges and the complexities of his relationship with the sport that defined him.

After spending decades in development hell, a live-action adaptation of the Neil Gaiman comic book series The Sandman actually made it into production and was released into the world as a Netflix series in August of 2022. (Read our review Here.) Season 2 of the show went into production last year, then had to be put on pause for a while due to the writers and actors strikes. Thankfully, The Sandman season 2 was able to resume production as soon as those strikes came to an end, and a couple months ago we heard that new cast additions include Esmé Creed-Miles (Hanna) as Delirium, Adrian Lester (Hustle) as Destiny, and Barry Sloane (Pleasureland) as The Prodigal. Now the names of several more new cast members and characters have been revealed:

Ruairi O’Connor (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It) has been cast as Orpheus,” the poet, musician, and oracle, is the only...

Dwayne Johnson and John Cena’s feud in the WWE was one of the most heated rivalries in the history of sports entertainment. The feud spanned for two long years, that is from 2011 to 2013 was arguably the most fiercest and heated saga between the two wrestling greats. But what made the rivalry more intense was that the beef stemmed from real-life heat and it is considered to be one of the episodes since the end of The Attitude Era.

The Rock vs John Cena at WrestleMania 28. Credits: WWE

During the feud, Cena was never intimidated by the Brahma Bull’s legendary status as he confronted him each time with great zeal and confidence. Though the 13-time WWE Champion is not the man to get uneasy, there’s one man who strikes fear in his heart, and he is not someone with whom he has shared the locker room with.

The...

After spending decades in development hell, a live-action adaptation of the Neil Gaiman comic book series The Sandman actually made it into production and was released into the world as a Netflix series in August of 2022. (Read our review Here.) Season 2 of the show went into production last year, then had to be put on pause for a while due to the writers and actors strikes. Thankfully, The Sandman season 2 was able to resume production as soon as those strikes came to an end – and today, a press release reveals that the cast of the new batch of episodes includes Esmé Creed-Miles (Hanna) as Delirium, Adrian Lester (Hustle) as Destiny, and Barry Sloane (Pleasureland) as The Prodigal. Their characters can be seen in this promo clip:

The Endless have finally assembled: Introducing Adrian Lester as Destiny, Esmé Creed-Miles as Delirium and Barry Sloane as the Prodigal in the next season of The Sandman.

Jeremy Renner is an actor of immense caliber. From working in Oscar-nominated roles to the crowd favorite Hawkeye, he has gained both critical favor as well as box office hits. Renner is currently busy shooting the third season of Mayor of Kingstown. After a tumultuous 2023, the actor is making the best of his time this year, and fans couldn’t be happier.

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton in Hawkeye

In Mayor of Kingstown, Renner plays the character of Mike McLusky, the so-called “mayor” of their town, a fixer of sorts, whose job is to keep the peace between the local thugs, the local authority, and the political circle. Renner’s character is a genius mastermind who is good at solving problems, having taken over the family business after the death of his older brother.

Jeremy Renner Reveals Which Movie He Would Want To Give The Mayor of Kingstown Treatment

Jeremy...

It’s been a year and a half since Nightbitch, a project that has been described as being a darkly comic “neo-horror” movie, went into production with Amy Adams (American Hustle) in the lead role, and now we finally have an update to share: Searchlight Pictures has announced that they will be giving the film a theatrical release on December 6, 2024. This is an upgrade in the release plans, as Nightbitch was originally meant to be released through the Hulu streaming service.

Written and directed by Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Nightbitch is based on a novel by Rachel Yoder. The film will tell the story of a suburban mom thrown into the stay-at-home routine of raising a toddler. As she embraces the feral power deeply rooted in motherhood, she becomes increasingly aware of the bizarre and undeniable signs that she may be turning into a dog.

Adams plays that possibly canine housewife.

Netflix on Tuesday morning unveiled the first teaser trailer for its Adam Sandler-led sci-fi drama Spaceman, directed by Chernobyl Emmy winner Johan Renck, also announcing that the pic is slated to debut on the platform on March 1st, 2024.

Adapted for the screen by Colby Day, the film is based on the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař, which was released in 2017. It picks up with Sandler’s astronaut Jakub six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, as he realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Maestro‘s Carey Mulligan), he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time, which he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. Voiced by Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Paul Dano (Dumb Money...

Shawn Levy is reuniting with Ryan Reynolds once again, this time for the high-profile, untitled global heist project that landed at Netflix on Wednesday.

The streaming giant won the feature package in what was described as an eight-company bidding war. Dana Fox will writie the script.

Levy will direct the feature as well as produce via his 21 Laps production banner. He joins a producing ensemble that includes Reynolds, via his Maximum Effort, and Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon through their banner, Genre Films. Ashley Fox and Johnny Pariseau of Maximum Effort are also producing.

Details are being kept locked in a vault but the project as being touted as a high-concept globally set caper flick a la Ocean’s Eleven.

Fox came up with the initial concept, with her and Kinberg further developing it before bringing it to Reynolds. The project hit the town last week and quickly escalated into a competitive situation,...

2023’s big sports biopic is here, and it’s a great time to put on your sports cap and spend some energy feeling motivated by the film. Now, we all know it’s not going to last, so have fun while it does. Nyad tells the inspiring story of long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad (as you may have guessed) on her big adventure of swimming the 110-mile course from Cuba to Key West, Florida. The film is mostly lighthearted and focuses on the teamwork that is required to achieve such a feat. As is common in the biopic world, the sports film stars an ensemble lead cast, with Annette Bening playing the role of relentless swimmer, Diana Nyad while Jodie Foster gets into the skin of her life-long best friend and coach, Bonnie Stoll. It’s rare to see a film that is solely focused on the activities of a woman...

Christian Bale worked with Alien director Ridley Scott on Exodus: Gods and Kings, which was an adaptation of the famous biblical story. But Bale thought Scott might have been freaked out by his star’s appearance for their feature.

Christian Bale felt that he made Ridley Scott panic because of his looks Christian Bale | Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Bale felt he might have made a bad impression after being cast in Scott’s biblical epic Exodus. The actor has been known to change his physique for his films. So physically, Bale didn’t think he had the look Scott wanted for his Moses. Bale put on a significant amount of weight to play his lead role in American Hustle.

Meanwhile, Moses was supposed to carry a much more slight physique. It didn’t help that Bale’s performance was going to follow Charlton Heston’s take on Moses in The Ten Commandments.

Los Angeles, Aug 18 (Ians) Rapper Young Capone, who was professionally known as Dopeboy Ra and RaRa, has passed away at the age of 35, after he was reported missing, with his last sighting being in Chicago.

The cause of death has not currently been determined.

The news of the rapper’s death was given out by his publicist Aleesha Carter on social media

“This is with a heavy heavy heart that I’m even posting this. We made magic when we strategically put out projects, always. Young Capone aka Dopeboy Ra aka Rara was one of my first Hip Hop/ Rap clients, and I can’t believe the news I just got of his unexpected passing!” she captioned the post alongside a carousel of images featuring the rapper.

Aleesha added: “A friend…a client and just huge in East Atlanta. This is not the easiest post at all. Rest easy, Rip @dopeboyra #dopeboyra #youngcapone.

Fly on the wall? Pah! The wall is all the way over there! These days, viewers want to be flies buzzing right around the noses of the people making the headlines, close enough to tell what they had for breakfast. And thanks to true story TV dramas, they can.

It’s been a long time since ropey Lifetime Movies were as good as it got for true story TV. In recent years, British production companies have stepped up in a big way to serve a growing appetite for fact-based drama, but all too often the real-life TV dramas of today focus on haunting tales of history’s most gruesome murders. If you’re sick of serial killers, there are plenty of non-murder true stories to enjoy in drama form, from very public scandals to ordinary people doing extraordinary things, to the kinds of tragedies it’s important that we never forget.

The winners for the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards have been unveiled, with Everything Everywhere All At Once taking home the most statues with four, a new record. It was nominated for five, with two in the Supporting Actress category.

Here is the complete list of winners from the Screen Actors Guild Awards:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture:

Babylon

The Banshees of Inisherin

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Women Talking

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role:

Austin Butler, Elvis

Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

Brendan Fraser, The Whale

Bill Nighy, Living

Adam Sandler, Hustle

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role:

Cate Blanchett, Tár

Viola Davis, The Woman King

Ana de Armas, Blonde

Danielle Deadwyler, Till

Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role:

Paul Dano – The...

Stephanie Hsu, Michelle Yeoh, and Ke Huy Quan in ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ (Photo Credit: Allyson Riggs / A24)

Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan became the first Asian actress and actor to win Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role/Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Everything Everywhere All at Once also scored wins in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture categories.

SAG members spread out the wins in the television categories, with The White Lotus the only nominee to earn multiple awards. Additional 29th Annual SAG Awards television winners included Abbott Elementary, 1883, The Bear, Hacks, George & Tammy, and Ozark.

This year’s SAG Awards took place in Los Angeles and streamed live on YouTube on February...

The SAG Awards are almost upon us, marking the last major awards show before the Oscars.

The 29th annual ceremony, hosted by the Screen Actors Guild, will take place on Sunday (26 February) at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The awards show honours the best performances across film and television.

Find out how to watch the 2023 SAG Awards here.

The SAG Awards are seen as an important indicator for the likeliest winners of the Academy Awards, which take place on 12 March.

Since the first SAG Awards ceremony in 1995, 20 lead actresses have won the corresponding Oscar while 23 leading male actors have done the same.

The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All at Once lead the nominees in the film categories this year while those vying for glory in the TV categories are more varied.

This year’s nominees were announced in January by Emily in Paris star Ashley Park...

The SAG Awards are almost upon us, marking the last major awards show before the Oscars.

The 29th annual ceremony, hosted by the Screen Actors Guild, will take place on Sunday (26 February) at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The awards show honours the best performances across film and television.

Find out how to watch the 2023 SAG Awards here.

The SAG Awards are seen as an important indicator for the likeliest winners of the Academy Awards, which take place on 12 March.

Since the first SAG Awards ceremony in 1995, 20 lead actresses have won the corresponding Oscar while 23 leading male actors have done the same.

The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All at Once lead the nominees in the film categories this year while those vying for glory in the TV categories are more varied.

This year’s nominees were announced in January by Emily in Paris star Ashley Park...

The SAG Awards are almost upon us, marking the last major awards show before the Oscars.

The 29th annual ceremony, hosted by the Screen Actors Guild, will take place on Sunday (26 February) at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The awards show honours the best performances across film and television.

Find out how to watch the 2023 SAG Awards here.

The SAG Awards are seen as an important indicator for the likeliest winners of the Academy Awards, which take place on 12 March.

Since the first SAG Awards ceremony in 1995, 20 lead actresses have won the corresponding Oscar while 23 leading male actors have done the same.

The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All at Once lead the nominees in the film categories this year while those vying for glory in the TV categories are more varied.

This year’s nominees were announced in January by Emily in Paris star Ashley Park...

The SAG Awards are almost upon us, marking the last major awards show before the Oscars.

The 29th annual ceremony, hosted by the Screen Actors Guild, will take place on Sunday (26 February) at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The awards show honours the best performances across film and television.

Find out how to watch the 2023 SAG Awards here.

The SAG Awards are seen as an important indicator for the likeliest winners of the Academy Awards, which take place on 12 March.

Since the first SAG Awards ceremony in 1995, 20 lead actresses have won the corresponding Oscar while 23 leading male actors have done the same.

The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All at Once lead the nominees in the film categories this year while those vying for glory in the TV categories are more varied.

This year’s nominees were announced in January by Emily in Paris star Ashley Park...

The Screen Actors Guild has announced the nominations for its 29th annual awards.

Honouring both film and TV, the awards are voted on by the Hollywood actors’ guild SAG-AFTRA.

This year’s ceremony will be live-streamed on Netflix’s YouTube channel on Sunday 26 February, beginning at 8pm Est.

The move comes after the SAG Awards lost their longtime broadcast home on TNT and TBS. On Wednesday (11 January), they announced a new multiyear partnership with Netflix to stream the ceremony.

The SAG Awards have long been considered one of the most reliable Oscar predictors. Typically, if a film ensemble isn’t among the SAG Awards nominees, it’s unlikely to win Best Picture at the March Academy Awards.

Find the full list of SAG Awards 2023 nominees below.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

Steve Carell – The Patient

Taron Egerton – Black Bird

Sam Elliott – 1883

Paul Walter Hauser...

The 29th annual Screen Actors Gulld Award nominees were announced Wednesday morning on Instagram Live by Ashley Park (“Emily in Paris”) and Haley Lu Richardson (“The White Lotus”), with “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” leading a list that proved to be a mix of mainstays and a few big surprises.

Hard-campaigning actors like Adam Sandler (“Hustle”) and Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) finally made it into the mix, while others expected to land acting noms were passed over, such as Michelle Williams in “The Fabelmans” or the vast female cast of “Women Talking” (though both films picked up ensemble nominations). The entire four-person principals of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” were recognized both individually as actors and as an ensemble.

Also Read:

Golden Globes Aim for Business as Usual but Can’t Escape Jerrod Carmichael’s Biting Opening Monologue

In the television categories,...

Prior to Ke Huy Quan winning the Golden Globe, he participated in The Hollywood Reporter’s Actor Roundtable, where he was asked who made his deal for Everything Everywhere All At Once, to which he made a revelation as to who handled it: Chunk from The Goonies!

“Jeff Cohen, who was in The Goonies with me–he was Chunk–is all grown now and he’s an entertainment lawyer.” Ke Huy Quan elaborated on the partnership, saying, “When the producer of our movie was trying to make my deal, he said he never imagined that he’d have to talk to Chunk and Data for his movie.” He also went into just how much Jeff Cohen had to do during his time working with the actor. “Anyway, then I did the whole thing, too–hired an acting coach, a dialogue coach, a voice coach–because I’m playing three different versions of the same character.

Well Schmoes, as 2022 finally draws to a close we reflect on a year unlike any other in our lifetimes. We finally got back to a pretty normal theatrical schedule from the studios, but streaming still had a lot t offer as well. If there is one thing for sure, there are always movies that are highly overrated and underrated by critics and fans alike. As the UnPopular Opinion Guy, I felt it was only fitting to issue my list of the movies I felt that the masses got wrong. Some of these may shock you and some may just piss you off, but these are my honest-to-goodness perspective of the movies of 2022. If you disagree with any of the choices, please voice your own opinion in the comments below. After all, the only opinion that really matters is yours, and I am just here to share mine.

5. Three Thousand Years of Longing...

Adam Sandler has claimed that Brendan Fraser’s award-nominated role in George of the Jungle made Sandler “feel bad about” himself.

Fraser, who appeared alongside Sandler and Steve Buscemi in the 1994 musical comedy Airheads, played the titular character of George in the 1997 family comedy.

Sitting down together in conversation for Variety Studio’s newest episode of Actors on Actors, Sandler recalled the American-Canadian star leaving Airheads and going on to get “very jacked for George of the Jungle”.

“I was disappointed how good you looked in that. You weren’t supposed to do that to us,” the Hustle actor joked. “You were supposed to remain like us.”

Responding to Sandler, Fraser said: “The wardrobe was... there was no wardrobe. George wears a loincloth.”

“You did right by the character. But you did wrong by us, man. You made us feel bad about ourselves,” Sandler further quipped, before questioning if Fraser...

Adam Sandler has claimed that Brendan Fraser’s award-nominated role in George of the Jungle made Sandler “feel bad about” himself.

Fraser, who appeared alongside Sandler and Steve Buscemi in the 1994 musical comedy Airheads, played the titular character of George in the 1997 family comedy.

Sitting down together in conversation for Variety Studio’s newest episode of Actors on Actors, Sandler recalled the American-Canadian star leaving Airheads and going on to get “very jacked for George of the Jungle”.

“I was disappointed how good you looked in that. You weren’t supposed to do that to us,” the Hustle actor joked. “You were supposed to remain like us.”

Responding to Sandler, Fraser said: “The wardrobe was... there was no wardrobe. George wears a loincloth.”

“You did right by the character. But you did wrong by us, man. You made us feel bad about ourselves,” Sandler further quipped, before questioning if Fraser...

Adam Sandler has said that he stopped reading reviews after the harsh criticism of Billy Madison.

The actor opened up about his views on film critics during a recent Netflix conversation for his recent movie Hustle.

Sandler, 56, said that he stopped paying attention to reviews after his 1995 comedy Bill Madison was torn apart by film critics.

Although the comedy – which Sandler co-wrote with Tim Herlily – is generally recognised to be a staple in the actor’s body of work, he recalled that 90 per cent of film critics called it “garbage” when it was released.

“When I was 17 and I got into this, I didn’t think about critics… I didn’t even realise that stuff was coming,” he said.

“I just thought you made movies, people go see it. When Billy Madison came out, me and my friend who wrote it, we were just like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re going...

One season ago, the Omicron surge of Covid forced the Academy’s Governors Awards to be postponed until the Friday before Oscars Sunday, outside of the pre-Oscar nomination voting window in which it traditionally is held, and virtually nobody but the honorees and their table guests were in attendance.

The ceremony at which special Oscars are presented returned to that window on Saturday night for its 13th edition, and — surprise, surprise! — just about every person who has a prayer of landing a nom found their way to the Fairmont Century Plaza’s ballroom — to celebrate honorees Michael J. Fox, Diane Warren, Peter Weir and Euzhan Palcy, to be sure, but not incidentally to pose for photos beside the Oscar logo on the red carpet and to rub shoulders with Academy members and awards press inside.

Studios pay a pretty penny to procure tables at the Governors Awards so that they...

Hustle Kar, Haasil Kar! ‘MTV Hustle 2.0’ produced by Fremantle Media, is all set to hunt for new rap sounds and catapult one into stardom! Featuring global artist and rap supremo Badshah as the judge, with eminent Indian rap trendsetters and pioneers Epr, King, Dino James and Dee Mc as Squad Bosses, the latest season of India’s first-ever rap reality television show will pit 16 of the country’s most unique rap voices, in 10 power-packed weeks! Realme MTV Hustle 2.0, starting September 03, on MTV India and Voot, heightens the stakes with double the competition and unmatched fierceness!

The launch press conference of MTV Hustle 2.0 in Mumbai saw Indian music superstar Badshah and the four Squad Bosses make dynamic entries on stage. The ensemble came together for the first time to perform live and unveiled the show’s power-packed Hustle Rap Anthem, which foretells the show’s spirit as well as the rich diversity of compelling rap music.

Netflix has launched production on You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah!, a new YA comedy from Happy Madison & Alloy Entertainment. Adam Sandler (Hustle), Tony winner Idina Menzel (Uncut Gems) and SNL cast member Sarah Sherman are part of the pic’s sprawling ensemble, which also includes Sunny Sandler (Hustle), Sadie Sandler (Hubie Halloween), Luis Guzmán (Boogie Nights), Ido Mosseri (Sandy Wexler), Samantha Lorraine (The Walking Dead: World Beyond), Dylan Hoffman (Next), Dean Scott Vazquez (Theater Camp), Miya Cech (Always Be My Maybe), Ivory Baker, Dylan Dash, Millie Thorpe (Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion), Zaara Kuttemperoor and Jackie Sandler (The Wrong Missy).

The film from director Sammi Cohen—who most recently helmed the Hulu rom-com Crush—is based on the Alloy Entertainment novel of the same name by Fiona Rosenbloom, in which a girl’s bat mitzvah plans comedically unravel and threaten to ruin one of...

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When filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar got called to the big leagues to direct Adam Sandler in Netflix’s Hustle, he drafted a key teammate from his last film to make the leap along with him.

Noëlle Gentile, a onetime public school theater teacher in Brooklyn and upstate New York, spent months working with athletes-turned-actors Juancho Hernangomez, Anthony Edwards, Kenny Smith, Boban Marjanovic and legend Julius “Dr. J” Erving to prove their skills on and off the court. The film centers Sandler as Stanley Sugarman, a down-on-his-luck basketball scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. After discovering a once-in-a-lifetime player with a rocky past (Hernangomez), Sugarman brings the phenom to the U.S. where, against the odds, they have one final shot to prove they have what it takes for the NBA.

Gentile got the shot after making her acting coach debut on his 2018 critically acclaimed indie,...

Funnyman and diehard basketball fan Adam Sandler takes another venture into serious dramatic territory in the new Netflix film "Hustle," where he plays Stanley Sugarman, a longtime international talent scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. Sugarman has been vying for the chance to pivot into a coaching career for years. But after the team's owner passes away and is replaced with Vince Merrick (Ben Foster), with whom he's never seen eye to eye, he's put on the road and tasked with finding the next great star player or stay a scout forever. It's a lot like "The Air Up There," but without the...

The post Hustle Had To Find A Brand-New Way To Get Basketball On Film appeared first on /Film.

For those of us who watch the NBA, Anthony Edwards has already become must-watch television after being in the league for only two years. Not only is he just a dynamite player who can absolutely suck the souls out of opponents by dunking on them, he is also must-watch for his press conferences and interviews, as he is a genuinely funny guy with a lot of personality. Even his dog (of course named Anthony Edwards Jr.) has a wonderful social media presence. So, when I heard he was in the new Adam Sandler movie "Hustle," I knew I had to check out...

The post How Hustle Picked The Perfect NBA Star To Play The Movie's 'Anti-Hero' Villain appeared first on /Film.

Adam Sandler may officially be entering his Blue Period. Oh, Our Patron Saint of the Holy Abbie-Doobie is still making the sort of broad, big-swing comedies he’s always made, still not afraid to channel his inner manchild in the middle of a lysergic sugar-high. (A friendly reminder: This movie came out in late 2020.) Those are the movies that have earned Sandler nice houses and nine-figure Netflix deals, and far be it from us to criticize how a man butters his very expensive bread. We still ride or die for Billy Madison.

Adam Sandler’s real-life love for the game of basketball is on full display in Hustle, an ode to pro basketball featuring a gigantic supporting cast of NBA legends and rising stars. The feel-good sports drama is a straightforward underdog story in essence, but its true strengths lie in how it delves into the psychology of the game, and the front office intrigue that fans seldom get to see.

Viral clips of Sandler pulling up to random public parks and gyms to play pick-up basketball games with awestruck civilians have been circulating online for years, so it seems natural that his obsession with the game would bleed into his onscreen work. It worked brilliantly in Uncut Gems, and Hustle similarly benefits from Sandler’s understanding of the game and the culture that surrounds it. Bolstering the movie’s authenticity are the real-deal ballers involved—most of them make fleeting appearances,...