Billy Madison is one of the golden examples of Adam Sandler at his best on the big screen. There are some moments in recent years that remind fans of those greater days, but it’s hard to top Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore — even if some say they might not hold up these days (liars). Sandler reminisced with Conan about his early film days, closing out a spirited interview by talking a bit about Billy Madison and the dodgeball scene that involved a bunch of first graders.
If you weren’t aware, Sandler wasn’t faking those shots at the kids with the dodgeballs. He was really going full bore and some of the kids couldn’t handle it. According to Sandler, some of the parents stepped in when the scene cut and one of the kids was showing some emotion. It was all the script, but some of the kids likely couldn’t read and the parents didn’t do their best job conveying that the balls would really be flying at their heads.
Sandler promises he wouldn’t do it, but like any young comedian, he lies and does it anyway. It’s funnier that way and Sandler doesn’t show much remorse during his chat with Conan. He’s laughing, joking, and even points out that the kids are nobodies today. They might even be “flipping burgers” or worse, still working in the background in Hollywood. They should be happy they’re “nobodies” these days, at least in Sandler’s eyes. That means they have a cool story to tell and then they don’t have to worry about becoming another child star statistic. That might be dark, but we’re also talking about a grown man taking glee in the suffering of children.
Anyway, let’s relive the scene and those glory days. I feel like the story might be one of those tall tales, but it’s still funny and the rest of the movie is funny too. Also counts as a great Chris Farley movie.
(Via Team Coco)
