Another Happy Collaboration
For a majority of the filmmakers, cast and crew who worked on GRANDMA'S BOY--a lot of whom are continuing their association with Adam Sandler and his production company, Happy Madison--the experience was somewhere between an extra-curricular graduate film school project and an all-weekend party out of bounds.
For co-writer, producer and star Allen Covert, this was most certainly the case. Having co-starred in every one of Sandler's movies (with the exception of BILLY MADISON) and worked in various producing capacities on six of those titles, Covert found himself at the center of GRANDMA'S BOY writing, producing and playing the lead role of Alex. "And on Fridays I do craft services, too," he adds. "But it's fun. Let's face it: we make comedies. Most everyone I know at Happy Madison works there because they never wanted to have a real job. It's kinda like 'Woo, hoo! Look what we get to do!' Our days are really long, so we might as well have fun."
Alex, whom Covert calls "the lord of the geeks," and his odd housing situation grew out of a real life experience: following his father's surgery, Covert and his dad moved in with his grandmother (in a very small condo) for several weeks. Covert and successful television writer Barry Wernick teamed up for an early draft of the script.
It seemed like a natural fit for Nicholaus Goossen to step up to the role of feature film director, having joined the Happy Madison production team fresh out of high school with an internship on "The Wedding Singer." Since that time, Goossen had worked his way up through the HM ranks, from production assistant to website director (where his myriad duties included shooting one short film a week to post on the site) to short feature and video director--all in nine years. "Goossen's been training as a director ever since he got here," explains Covert. "Shooting a film a week for AdamSandler.com was like going to film school…only probably we had better beer."
Goossen says, "These guys always knew I wanted to be a filmmaker. I've pretty much been working towards that on all of the movies, with Adam giving me more responsibility each time, starting out directing the smaller stuff--basically anything that wasn't a movie. And now he's made the mistake of giving me this thing. I can't believe he did it, the fool."
The first-time feature director adds, "It didn't hurt when I first got here that Adam walked up to me and said, 'Do you play basketball?' I said, 'Yeah, sure.' It was a good thing that I dunked a few when we played. So I guess I pretty much owe my career to basketball. And I think Adam probably felt sorry for me, like, 'This poor kid. He's kind of a dork. I should probably help him out a little.' So when he picked me to do this, I thought it was just to be captain of the basketball team. I'm still convinced that's right, but somehow, things got mixed up and here I am."
As can only happen in a place like Happy Madison, the convergence of several comedy roads led to the involvement of stand-up Nick Swardson.
Covert recalls, "Goossen was going to meet with some kid for another project. He'd had been hitting the clubs looking for young comics. And I had seen a tape of this Nick guy that they'd been looking at--'Hey, this kid's funny.' Something like the next day, Adam walks in with a name on a piece of paper. He said, 'I saw this guy on Comedy Central. He's really funny. You guys should find him.' It was Swardson. So we had him in and after one meeting, we thought that he'd be good to bring in as a writer."
Swardson was also invited to write himself into the movie (he becomes Jeff, Alex's footie pajama-wearing friend); Nick additionally assumed co-producing duties in the production. Covert says, "There's a reason we write movies--so we can actually get into the movies. It's not like anyone's out there writing Allen Covert leading roles."
Swardson says, "The guys were fans of my stand-up and knew that I was a writer on 'Malibu's Most Wanted.' And Allen and Adam were like, 'If you want to write yourself in, go ahead.' It's kind of this big group, everybody does a little of everything sort of place."
Swardson's offbeat character ended up with an equally weird home life. Jeff, in his early 20s, lives with his parents, whom he calls his roommates. And his bedroom and nighttime attire look like an eight-year-old's idea of paradise…down to the big, one-piece p.j.s. "We were shooting at night, and I'd have to walk around the neighborhood in these pajamas, on my way to the food truck or the bathroom. I must have looked like the biggest pervert…or some guy who was being seriously molested. There was probably some big neighborhood watch meeting later about it--'We have to find this boy and save him!'"
Jeff isn't the only character to undergo a certain amount of humiliation. Covert's Alex is put through a continuing series of embarrassing situations--which is perfect for the filmmaker/performer. Nick Goossen explains, "Allen grew the crazy beard and hair for "Happy Gilmore"--he was also naked in that. Then he had the weird mustache and hair for "The Wedding Singer." Then he was bucktoothed and retarded in "The Waterboy." Then he had to kiss [Peter] Dante in "Big Daddy." He shaved half of his head and got really fat for "Little Nicky." He got even fatter and had this permed blonde hair in "Mr. Deeds"--Adam kicked his ass in that and again, he got naked. He was an idiot with no memory in "50 First Dates." He got a major nut shot from Sandler in "The Longest Yard." So he pretty much has a long screen history of humiliation and I didn't see why we should stop now when he's starring in the movie."
Goossen and the entire project benefited from the hands-on approach of Sandler from the very beginning. Covert says, "Swardson and I were on about page two, and we stopped and handed it to him, like, 'Are we on the right direction?' He's the best to have around. He gave us a million jokes. He was on-set the first day and was sitting behind a monitor and gave us a joke that became our quote: 'You're a little hooker.' The crew was saying it still five weeks later."
With the unique collaborative working environment at Happy Madison, new ideas and input were never in short supply. Covert remembers that there was always a regular flow of jokes and bits from everyone, most of whom were used to wearing several hats at once. "Everyone's really funny," he says. "People in the cast, even some in the crew, were always offering ideas. As one of the writers, I'm not like one of these people who thinks, 'I didn't write that.' I don't care. If it's funny, then all right."
Swardson also notes, "With Adam behind it and supporting it, that was huge. We could really be open creatively. We wanted to make an original comedy, something different, something fun. Definitely whack, 'R' stuff. Strippers, grannies, games, monkeys, weed. You want it, we got it."
Centering the script around video gaming was a big draw to everyone, especially the director, who describes himself as "hardcore."
"He is a fanatic," observes Swardson. "This film was really intriguing for him to get into this world. The whole idea of these guys who test video games for a living, I think that's probably Goossen's dream job."
Goossen sums up how he sees GRANDMA'S BOY: "Video games, grandmas and weed. And I like to hear Swardson drop the F-bomb--I'm not going to lie, it just makes me laugh, hearing him say it."

Over the River and Through the Woods…
The director continues, "Alex is at a standstill in his life. He's 35. He's been testing videogames for ten years, basically playing games and getting stoned--which is great, for a while. But in between trips to his dealer's house, he's been working on his own game. And that's when his roommate tells him he's been giving all the rent to a bunch of hookers…I mean, 'massage therapists,' and he ends up out of his apartment. He tries to stay at his dealer's, Dante's, but his home is kinda his office and he's also about to get a lion to guard the place--you can get around a dog, but no one messes with a lion. Then, after this unbelievably humiliating scene at Jeff's house--which, by the way, is probably one of the most embarrassing things Allen has had to do onscreen ever, poor guy--he's living with grandma and her roommates."
And these aren't your run-of-the-mill little old biddies, either. In Covert, Wernick and Swardson's script, these gray ladies are separately called upon to engage in some very un-grandmotherly-like behavior: while Lilly is perhaps the picture-perfect grandma (doting, sweet and always shoveling out food--great for a grandson with occasional munchies), she also gets to cavort with a crowd from a strip club while inadvertently stoned and eventually becomes a video gaming master; Grace is a tart-tongued senior who definitely knows her way around the bedroom (her partners number way into the four-digit zone) and who has a taste for younger guys; and Bea is a harmless loony, inhabitant of her own planet of one, thanks to her unending schedule of meds which she dispenses from a handy tackle box.
And to play these colorful characters, not just any grandmas would do. Covert, Goossen and their team went after some major grannies--some of the most major in the business: multiple Emmy® winner Doris Roberts, Oscar® winner Shirley Jones and Emmy® and Tony® winner Shirley Knight. Covert says, "Just sending the script to them was like, 'Please, don't be insulted by this…but hey, do you wanna be in it?' What we got back was basically the same response--they're great actresses and who are all funny ladies, and they just thought that it was a fun project…maybe just something crazier than they've ever done before. They all lived through the '60s, right? And they've been in the business for a really long time, around actors and producers and agents, and there's a fair share of sleazy guys out there. So they sorta said, 'What, this script? Oh, please. Bring it on.'"
Director Goossen wasn't sure that his experience making many short films for the internet would impress the veteran actors. "I was most nervous about working with the ladies because they are so awesome. I didn't think they would want to be directed by a 26-year-old punk. And this is really an 'R'-rated film, so to ask these great actresses to do some of this stuff, man…Shirley Jones talking about some kinky sexual stuff, Doris Roberts toking and Shirley Knight meandering around, an incoherent pill freak. But they were amazing. They were willing to do pretty much anything we asked them to do."
Nick Swardson observes, "It's incredibly bizarre to have these ladies in these roles--Doris lighting up, Shirley Jones talking about sex acts and Shirley Knight eating pills like candy. It's funny, it seems like we always tiptoe around older people, like 'Should we explain the munchies to them?' They were totally cool, like, 'Please, we were doing this stuff before you were born.' They were game for anything and they have a lot of acting experience. Between them, I figured they have something like 3,000 headshots."
Working together on GRANDMA'S BOY was a reunion of sorts for the three older inhabitants of Lilly's house. Roberts and Jones had crossed paths in the New York theater world many times over the years, but had only worked together on an episode of the popular "Murder, She Wrote." Jones and Knight had appeared together in the sequel "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" ("The first one was great, right? The second one was terrible!" offers Jones).
Doris Roberts' popular role of the grandma with the snappy comebacks on "Everybody Loves Raymond" is effectively turned on its ear in her portrayal of Lilly, Alex's loving (but no pushover) grandma.
"Having Doris Roberts in this movie is really nice," says Covert. "On 'Raymond,' her character could be manipulative and mean. But in this, she's just so open and sweet. Her timing is unbelievable--she would do these lovely, nice things and still, with this innocence, she's able to make you laugh hysterically."
Roberts says her first reaction when she read the script was, "What am I doing?" But she was won over by the character, the script and the cast. She offers, "Lilly, my character, is quite wonderful. She gets in a little trouble…but not much. The humor does get kind of extreme, sort of raunchy. But also, it always comes back to a very kind place about having a home and a family. That's actually at the center, I think, of most of the films from Adam."
Part of the fun for Roberts was getting to play off of two other skilled actresses, both of whom with characters entirely different from her own. "In my home are two other women, played by Shirley Knight and Shirley Jones. We're very clearly delineated as different characters and it is great fun to play with those two ladies. As actresses, we respect and trust each other, and we ended up working as a unit rather than individuals."
But Lilly isn't all sweetness and light--well, maybe still sweet and light but in an altered way, particularly when she makes a mistake by borrowing a tea tin from her grandson's room and brewing a big pot for her and her roomies.
"Compared to her roommates, my character is very normal. So when she does get kind of wacky--she mistakenly makes tea for the girls and it turns out she's brewing Alex's stash--and we're absolutely stoned out of our gourds. Then Alex comes home and brings his friends, and one of them invites everyone over from a strip club--let's just say it's a party where just about anything can happen…and a lot does. It was one of the most fun times I've ever had working on a movie," offers Roberts.
The fictional Lilly and the real life Doris have one thing in common: a motto for life. "She doesn't give in, she doesn't give up and she doesn't take 'no' for an answer. For anyone who knows me, they'd tell you that pretty much sums up my character as well."
Character is exactly what drew Shirley Jones to the project. Fans of the seminal sitcom "The Partridge Family" will definitely be surprised at the colorful background and racy dialogue of the still sexy Grace, including her reminiscences about her sexual escapades with old movie stars, like the silent film star Charlie Chaplin. ("He wasn't silent anymore," her character fondly recalls in the film.)
Covert comments, "About a week before we started shooting, I was sitting home flipping through channels and 'Oklahoma' was on--you know, Shirley Jones, 18-years-old, 'there's a bright golden haze on the meadow!'? And I was thinking, 'Oh. This poor woman. What am I about to do to her?'"
"Quite frankly, the reason I take on a project now," explains Jones, "is for the chance to play a character I've never played before--a character that's going to challenge me, a character that's going to say, 'Wow!' And that's certainly the case with Grace."
Jones welcomed the opportunity to play counter to her popular image with the sexually active grandma who's survived four husbands (Alex comments, "Yeah, they probably committed suicide") and is somewhat cynical in her approach to life. She continues, "It's a fabulous part. And I'm certainly not Mrs. Partridge in this movie. I guess I'm sort of an alcoholic/sexaholic--and it's been such great fun. When I first read the script, they asked, 'Which part would you like to play?' And I said, 'If I do anything, I want to play Grace, no doubt.' It was so different from everything I've played--except for "Elmer Gantry," I was a prostitute in that--but this film is definitely out there, with some risky comedy. I'm not sure of the rating, but you can bet, you get a little bit of everything."
Another bonus for Jones was working with Sandler and his team. She explains, "To have Adam say, 'This is a good script' goes very far with me. On the first day of shooting, he came over and said, 'We're so lucky and happy to have you on this film.' And I said, 'Thank you. I'm very happy to be here.' I'm a great fan of his, and I've admired his films for quite a while. He's very talented; he's incredibly funny, but he's also a gifted actor and a wonderful writer. I think his being involved is basically the cherry on the cake, as far as I'm concerned."
Cherries on cakes are just the kind of thing that would fascinate the third roommate in Lilly's house, Bea--the somewhat dim light bulb who keeps herself powered by a never-ending stream of self-dispensed meds. Bea rarely utters a word relative to the situation surrounding her, but prefers to speak in non-sequiturs ("I'm made of wood" or "Pancakes for sale").
Shirley Knight was also enthusiastic about playing an offbeat character. "When I read the script I thought this is wild and crazy and naughty. My character Bea is just so dim--she says things that are totally inappropriate and totally off-the-wall. I also eat things, like flowers in the garden, and I drink paint as well. All of this is because I'm totally zoned on out pills, which I pull from my tackle box that goes everywhere with me."
Knight has fashioned her longstanding career from a string of usually dramatic characters and she has a wry perspective on her recent ventures into comic terrain. She jokingly explains, "In one scene, I get to sing Poison's 'Talk Dirty To Me'--'Behind the bushes 'til I'm screaming for more / Down the basement, lock the cellar door / And baby, talk dirty to me.' I'll probably never live that down. And I blame Harold Ramis ["Stuart Saves His Family"] and James Brooks ["As Good As It Gets"] for changing the course of my life in this comedy world. I used to be this very serious actress with all these awards…now I'm just a silly woman, and it's all their fault. And now I get to blame Adam Sandler and all his friends, too!"

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