Adam Sandler Tells Bedtime Stories

By: Ashley Queen

Monday December 15, 2008

Opening in theaters Christmas Day

From a screenplay written by Matt Lopez (The Race to Witch Mountain) and Tim Herlihy (The Wedding Singer), Bedtime Stories is a modern day fairy tale which incorporates classic family fun with that unique style of comedy that the film’s leading man, Adam Sandler, can only bring. Adam Shankman, the film's director as well as director of such warm, fun and delightfully charming films like The Wedding Planner and Hairspray, says, “This movie has an enormous amount of heart… It’s just magic.”

Adam Sandler and Happy Madison Productions were immediately drawn to the project. Sandler felt his own emotional bond to the piece since recently becoming a first time dad. “I read Bedtime Stories and I thought it would be really fun for everyone,” Adam Sandler explains. Although Sandler’s character Skeeter isn’t becoming a dad he does take on father like responsibilities when his sister, Wendy, played by Courtney Cox asks him to help with the kids. Cox comments, “…I go off to find a job and all the madness starts.” The madness was aided by the imaginations of Skeeter’s niece and nephew, Bobbi and Patrick played by newcomers Laura Ann Kesling and Jonathan Heit. “Jonathan is really smart and Laura makes you smile all the time,” says Sandler when asked about his co-stars. Kerri Russell is Wendy’s dependable friend Jill, who keeps close watch on Skeeter. “Somehow I end up in these crazy adventures that Skeeter creates with the kids,” says Russell.

Director Shankman explains, “The fun thing is that Skeeter casts characters from real life as the character in all of the stories.” Characters including the camera friendly Teresa Palmer as Mr. Nottingham’s beautiful daughter and Sandler’s love interest, who gets cast as the helpless yet stunning damsel in Skeeter’s stories. But the ditsy boss’ daughter isn’t the only person playing a part in the tales. It seems like everyone in Skeeter’s day to day life make a cameo in his stories. From his revered boss Barry Nottingham played by wildcard funnyman Richard Griffiths, to his arch nemesis Kendall Duncun played by actor’s actor Guy Pearce, each find themselves on epic journeys, in magnificent setting as different from one another as ancient Greece and Outer Space. Director Adam Shankman keeps a delicate balance between head-jolting Sandler comedy and classic Disney storytelling. “…The stories are told through the eyes of children,” says Director Shankman, “We wanted to go for classic sketches of what people think of when they imagine these different themes.”

The look of each scene changes from contemporary to fantasy creating a visually stimulating esthetic. To help create these sequences filmmakers brought on a team of top visual effect and special effects experts, joining them, a world-class stunt team. Production designer, Linda DeScenna, quickly found she had her work cut out for her. She and Shankman, having worked together on passed projects, (The Pacifier, Bringing Down the House) had to figure out what could be physically built and what would be computer built. “That has to be pretty exact,” the production designer adds. As a result of DeScenna’s accuracy, the production design team creates extraordinary scenes that, like the movie itself, blend seamlessly between reality and fantasy. Or course the fantasy would not be reality if not for the brilliant visual effects team led by John Andrew Berton Jr. “We’re responsible for magical creatures and magical settings…” Berton Jr. comments. Many of the visual effect were added to physical action like that of Kerri Russell when her character is turned into a mermaid. Russell performs the upper body yet the mermaid tail is an animation which stands in much like a stunt double. This same concept is used when creating the saucer like eyes of the children’s pet guinea pig, Bugsy. Amazingly, Bugsy’s bulging bugging eyes are the only things about Bugsy that is computer animated. “Guinea Pigs aren’t known for speed and agility,” says animal trainer Steve Berens. “But we were able to get them running on that treadmill.” While working on Bedtime Stories, Berens worked with stampeding horses and teams of elephant but his biggest challenge seemed to be the guinea pig, which brings his own unique style of comedy to the screen. Bugsy learned to run a treadmill, ring a doorbell and even tuck himself into bed. “It’s great to show people that these animals can do things themselves,” the proud trainer concludes.

While the visual effects team tried to fit a made up world into a real one, Rita Tyack, the film’s costume designer, searched to find the right look for the film’s cast. This process presented a number of challenges “There are several time periods and settings,” Rita Ryack says. Rita goes on to say she didn’t feel like she had to make any of the period pieces too authentic. “We’re watching Skeeter’s fantasies, so that involved some projection.” In fact, in most of the costumes one can find a modern element or two. The use of bright, cheer-boosting colors and flattering silhouettes paired with innovating styles complement the comedic element of the story well. And it does so without distraction. “Everything in this movie is grade-A,” says Lucy Lawless when asked on her character’s outlandish costumes. Lawless plays Aspen, the hotel’s outlandish concierge and pal to Guy Pearce’s character Kendall Duncun. “I’m yet another foil to Adam Sandler’s character,” Lawless continues. Although Skeeter didn’t always have Lawless starring as the most glamorous of characters, the actress had a great time playing different egos. “When I’m the crab lady, I’ve got this insane headpiece on and the most incredible special effects make up and prosthetics,” Lucy Lawless says. Each cast member gets into wardrobe and make up and prepares for their scene; it is clear the inspiration that the cast, characters, even the bedtime stories themselves, had on the crew.

Even though Adam Shankman and the rest of the crew worked hard on making Bedtime Stories a visual masterpiece the comedic aspect of the movie, most definitely does not go unnoticed. The mix of crazy characters, in crazy costumes on crazy adventures along side the wickedly funny Adam Sandler will have audiences laughing almost as loud as it’s vibrant cast was in the making of the film. “It’s actually hard not to laugh during the scenes ‘cause he’s so funny’,” says Jonathan Heit who starred beside Sandler as his nephew. The kids weren’t the only ones Sandler had in stitches. The always funny, Russell Brand not only couldn’t stop laughing but says he learned a lot from his time with Sandler. Brand plays Skeeter’s right hand man and confidante who also get characterized through the tales. The British comic goes on to say, “It’s good to watch how he handles physical stuff. He’s always subtle, and look at his charisma. I think he’s one of the great comedy actors of all time.”

As Sandler ‘knocks ‘em down’, Director Adam Shankman ‘sets ‘em up’ with pleasurable and exaggerated sequences like the crowd roaring chariot “X Games” where Chariots shoot off a ramp over rows of elephants resembling something like Grecian motocross. A pleasant surprise is in store when audiences see how funny drama trained actor Guy Pearce is beside Adam Sandler. The “no gravity battle” which takes place in Outer Space, is side-splitting as the characters of Skeeter and Kendall try to battle to the death in the weightless abyss. With unique and fun sequences, a cast of dedicated and hilarious actors and heartfelt enchanting adventure, Bedtime Stories has something for everyone.

This whimsical tale of a man’s return to childhood and belief in the possible impossibilities of his dreams is told to us in that classic Disney style that anyone who was young can appreciate. With a modern twenty-first century twist mixed with that uniquely nineties comedy brought to you by the comic legend Adam Sandler, Disney and Happy Madison Productions have brought families a new story filled with the same, fun, delight, adventure and mesmerizing possibilities of that of our favorite Disney flicks. Bedtimes Stories is sure to become another Disney classic film.

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Adam Sandler Tells Bedtime Stories

By: Ashley Queen

Monday December 15, 2008

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