Why Adam Sandler Was Initially Worried About Eminem's Happy Gilmore 2 Cameo
"Happy Gilmore 2," the much-hyped three-decades-later sequel to the 1996 Adam Sandler sports comedy hit, has been making waves since its July 25 arrival on Netflix, with fans and critics alike (and even Taylor Swift) deeming it an affable, charming, and highly entertaining improvement on the original.
Much like the first "Happy Gilmore," with its litany of cameos from illustrious sports and comedy figures, "Happy Gilmore 2" boasts a deep bench of stars in supporting and minor roles. One of those is Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, who turns in a quaint and hilarious one-scene performance as Donald Floyd Jr., the son of the heckler played by the late Joe Flaherty who called Happy a "jackass" in the first film.
Interestingly, Sandler recently revealed on The Dan Patrick Show that the cameo almost didn't happen, as he was hesitant to ring up Mathers even though the two are friends in real life. "I love Eminem, I'm friends with Eminem, but I don't want to bother the man," Sandler explained. "And everybody kept saying, 'Man, Eminem would be so funny in this part.' And I was like, I don't want to ruin this guy's time, he's hanging out, he's in Detroit, he's doing his life, making records." Eventually, of course, the idea of having Eminem play the new heckler was just too enticing to ignore.
Adam Sandler was afraid of being a nuisance, but Eminem was game
Even though Adam Sandler was worried about bothering Eminem with his offer of a cameo role, he still ultimately went ahead and took the chance. In the end, the hip hop titan turned out to be quite game. "I give him a call and say, 'Dude, I know it's a pain in the ass but it's pretty funny. You mind shooting out to us for a day?'" Sandler told Dan Patrick. "And then he's like, 'Yeah, yeah, send me the stuff.'" And so Eminem's performance as the bearer of Joe Flaherty's heckling legacy was born. Donald Jr., whose brief appearance consists of arguing with Happy and insulting him much like his father once did, is the kind of delightfully silly role that gains exponentially in entertainment value from the contribution of a star of Eminem's caliber.
Sandler's comments to Patrick were made in the context of a broader discussion of how such note-perfect cameo roles in comedy movies come to be. The comedy A-lister himself admitted that, although he called 88 friends for "Happy Gilmore 2," he actually hesitates to invite people for roles out of the blue because others often do that to him — and it's not always fun.
"Always you feel like a jerk, because I get those calls, and you go 'What happened? I was going to have a normal Saturday and now I gotta go do this 'cause I picked up the phone?' So I don't love doing it," Sandler explained. Still, there was no disgruntlement to speak of when Eminem got the call from Sandler.
Adam Sandler and Eminem's friendship goes way back
Following Adam Sandler's explanation of how Eminem's cameo happened, Dan Patrick remembered that, many moons ago, the rapper co-starred with Sandler in a different film: 2009's Judd Apatow-directed "Funny People," in which Sandler memorably plays a stand-up comic who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Eminem plays himself as a friend of Sandler's George Simmons, who commiserates with him on the pitfalls of fame, in a classic example of a largely improvised scene in an Adam Sandler movie. The camaraderie they display in the film isn't strictly fictional: Eminem's roles in Sandler's films both happened in the context of a longtime friendship.
"I remember the first time I met him, I was at 'Saturday Night Live,'" Sandler recalled. The comic, who was part of the regular "SNL" cast from 1990 to 1995, met Eminem backstage during the afterparty for the October 23, 1999 episode, hosted by Norm Macdonald with Dr. Dre alongside Eminem and Snoop Dogg as musical guests.
"I was at a table with all my guys ... and then Marshall walked by our table, and he looked at me, and I looked at him like 'Oh yeah, that kid's pretty damn cool,'" Sandler retold to Patrick. "And then he goes, 'Bobby Boucher' [in reference to Sandler's character in 1998's 'The Waterboy']. And I go, 'Oh, yes, that's what's up, Marshall!' And then we became friendly after that."