According to Adam Sandler, the dodgeball scene from “Billy Madison” was just as rough as it looked
Okay, so we’re all in agreement that Billy Madison wasn’t a cinematic masterpiece — but it was an important comedy to us when we were growing up. Fans might remember the super funny dodgeball scene in Billy Madison, where Adam Sandler — an adult who had to attend every grade all over again — whipped some dodgeballs at a few minors.
It made us crack up, but Sandler just admitted that the scene kind of went a little haywire during filming.
As in, those kids had no clue what to expect. Meaning, it was 100% real. Yikes.
While he’s got plenty of movies on his resume now, it seems like Sandler wasn’t totally sure about movie protocol during the mid-90’s when the film was released. Here he is on Conan discussing what went wrong.
It sounds like after the first take, Sandler got reprimanded.
“It was our first movie that we were doing,” Sandler said. “I hit some kid pretty hard, and he starts crying, and his parents come up to me.”
Sandler explained that the scene is in the script, but the parents had a pretty good response — “they’re six, they don’t read yet.” But it seems like Sandler was so fond of the scene, that he just let it continue.
“Anyway, I said I won’t do it or something, and I told the guys to roll anyway, and nailed a bunch of kids. But those kids grew up, and guess who they are today?” Sandler said. “I don’t know.”
Looking back, we’re sure those kids probably think the scene is pretty funny. (Those kids are well into their late 20’s right now, by the way.) And of course, Sandler now has two daughters of his own, Sadie and Sunny. We’re hopeful that he’s warmed up a bit as far as film antics are concerned.
