A Hot Boss, A New Age Boss, A Dealer, A Geek And Others…
And the Games They All Play
Alex falls for his new boss, Samantha, who has been imported to oversee the development of the latest Brainasium game. And she has the dubious honor of being the only girl at work--a lone hottie in a sea of virgins. Linda Cardellini, perhaps best known for her work as Velma in the "Scooby-Doo" films and on television's "E.R.," explains that her character Samantha is "hired to crack the whip on this game production. All the guys at Brainasium aren't accustomed to girls being around the office, so they are somewhat enamored with her. But the good thing about Samantha is that she's one of the guys. There's not too much that offends her--even in an office full of hormonally out of control geeks."
If the god of gamers had created woman, her name would be Samantha…which is exactly what the writers had in mind when they wrote her. Nick Swardson explains, "Alex sums it up when he says, 'I love this girl--I found a girl who plays video games.' What girl does that, you know? We designed her to be the ultimate--she's hot, she's smart and she plays video games. She can hang with the guys, she can do a couple shots of tequila, she can puke and then she can make out after that. That's pretty much a gold medal right there."
Covert adds, "She's all that, plus she likes me, which is a bonus…because that usually doesn't happen."
On Cardellini's first day of filming, the actress shot "the make-out scene" between Alex and Samantha. She observes, "We strangely had to keep doing it take after take. I'm not sure what that was about. There's also another scene where my character is pretty drunk at the party at Alex's grandma's house, so of course I feel compelled to sing a karaoke version of 'Push It' while dancing and making a total idiot out of myself…and I had a blast." She stops and adds, "Making this movie with all the Happy Madison guys felt like I was working with someone's family…and then pretty soon, I felt like part of that family."
If the filmmakers, cast and crew represented a family, then the father figure would most likely have to be Kevin Nealon playing Brainasium's Mr. Cheezle, a very spiritual man who happens to run a company that produces the most violent video games on the market. The part was specifically tailored for Nealon, "knowing full well that he would make it even funnier," explains Covert. The director interjects, "Kevin's great. Amazing. Brilliant. Weird. And tall, very tall."
Nealon found filming GRANDMA'S BOY akin to going back to school: "It's like Sandler University, you know, it's a film school. A lot of guys start out as assistants, doing PA jobs, then they kind of graduate up, learning about filmmaking along the way. They become more familiar with how to make successful comedy and they get funnier. Then Sandler has the generosity to offer them opportunities to be in the films, or direct them. That's Nick Goossen's story. But you know, there are child labor laws for directors, too. We had to stop shooting at six so he could go to school for an hour, and then come back and shoot more. I think he was studying American presidents, if I'm not mistaken."
Another familiar face at Sandler U is Peter Dante, who stars as the friendly, all accepting, ever joyous neighborhood dealer, who happens to be named Dante.
The actor says, "I think they wrote the part for someone else, but decided to give it to me at the end. You know, they were like, 'All these people were up for it, but since you have the right name, you can have the part.' I thought that was really big of them."
Since Dante had become accustomed to working with Covert and the HM gang, his usual co-stars, the filmmakers wanted to challenge the actor this time around by pitting him against some formidable (and rather furry) talent. When Dante's plan to utilize a guard lion as a home protection system fails, he decides on the next best thing: a chimp trained in martial arts. So chimpanzee Harry was hired and, although named Monkey in the script, his trainers were adamant about educating Harry's fellow actors, reminding them that monkeys have tails and chimps don't. Whatever his species, Harry bonded with his acting compatriot Dante, and was rather fond of kissing the actor after every scene.
Dante compares Harry to one of his previous, frequent co-stars: "I tell you what, kissing Harry the Chimp was much better than kissing Allen Covert. Yes, much better. Harry actually is much more soft when he kisses. Allen's much more aggressive. Yes, Harry definitely wins out."
Not everyone had the same experience with Harry. Covert remembers, "Our first take together was me, the chimp and Dante. The chimp was wearing diapers, and he pooped himself in the middle of the first take. I'm just sitting there thinking, 'Are you kidding me?' I couldn't even look over. The smell, geez, it was like the jungle; it was horrible. I was just trying to be a professional, and this is what I got. That's what happens when you work with animals. Half of my scenes in 'Little Nicky' were with a dog. You're sitting there, just acting away, having your best take…and the dog just walks away halfway through the scene, or the monkey--I'm sorry, chimp--decides he's going to climb over the back of the couch. And you're like, 'Wait a second--I was really good in that!'"
A character with about as much social grace as a monkey (or a chimp, whichever one is less charming), J.P., the resident prodigy of Brainasium, is brought to life by funny man Joel David Moore. Having sold his first self-created video game at age 13, J.P. pretty much left school to devote time to the company where he was now the leading investor. Although probably never in the popular crowd anyway, the gaming wiz nonetheless misses out on whatever socializing normal teens encounter in public education--and ends up a hopeless dork. Moore says, "He's a kid genius, but he has no social skills whatsoever. He thinks dressing like Keanu Reeves in 'The Matrix' is a really cool idea. And he uses a robot voice sometimes, which I guess he thinks is sexy. And don't let them fool you that Covert and those guys wrote this stuff. We didn't really have a script. They pitched the idea to a bunch of children in a kiddie pool and one of them screamed, 'Yippee!'"
The cast also includes other Happy Madison alumni, with Jonathan Loughran as Alex's roommate Josh, whose financial mismanagement lands Alex out on the street. Regulars Rob Schneider and David Spade also appear in cameos as (respectively) Yuri, Alex and Josh's landlord, and Shyloh, an angry waiter at a vegan restaurant.
One of the newest stars to appear in GRANDMA'S BOY isn't an actor…or a lion or a chimp. It's a video game. The game Alex creates, "Demonik," is a yet-to-be-released entry from leading firm Majesco for the X-Box 2 platform, with a slated early 2006 launch. "Demonik" was created by Brett Russell from Terminal Reality, who is working with Majesco on developing the game.
Executive producer Glenn Gainor explains, "The game the moviegoers will be seeing onscreen is a pre-recorded unreleased version of the game. No one's ever done anything like this before in a film."
This inclusion of a real life game in the film's storyline made the gamers of GRANDMA'S BOY even more stoked about the experience. Nick Swardson says, " One of the greatest things about this movie was working in the video game world--especially for Goossen, who is a giant video game freak. I mean I play, Allen plays, but he's like a fanatic, so he was beyond insane about that part of the story."
The filmmakers actually modeled Brainasium on Majesco (which is headquartered in New Jersey), as well as on other companies situated in Los Angeles. In the game, a demon is summoned, who then inhabits a person and uses the body to enact revenge. In the level shown in the film, the widow of a man killed by drug lords summons the demon to take out the meth lab run by the drug cartel--so Lilly learns her video gaming skills by annihilating drug dealers and meth lab scum.
Virgin gamers, stoned grandmas, amorous chimps, meth lab scum--all in a day's work for Happy Madison. Linda Cardellini describes a regular workday when she says, "We're all laughing and having fun and then it's the end of the day and everyone's exhausted--but no one wants to leave."
When asked to put GRANDMA'S BOY into words, Nick Swardson offers, "It's a great movie that you don't even have to be stoned to enjoy. There's a lot of original stuff, some great games, and hopefully you'll have a good time watching it."
But will he bring his mother to see it?
"Ah, no. I think my mom's gonna have to sit this premiere out."
Allen Covert closes, "Sandler's whole thing about making movies is that he wants the audience to know they're going to a party. And, you know, everyone in the theater is there for that party. I just want people to go for an hour-and-a-half and have fun and not worry about their bills and their job and their homework--just go laugh at me being an idiot and getting beat up and having fun with my grandma. Man, I'm so lucky. I got a lot of funny people around me in this movie, which is good because hopefully they'll cover up for me."

BARRY WERNICK (Screenwriter) has been writing for television for the last 10 years on such shows as "Boston Common," "Two Guys and a Girl" and "The Stones." GRANDMA'S BOY serves as his feature film screenwriting debut.

ALLEN COVERT (Alex / Screenwriter / Producer) has co-starred in every Adam Sandler movie, with the exception of BILLY MADISON. Covert co-wrote (with Adam Sandler and Nick Swardson) the upcoming comedy THE BENCHWARMERS, starring Rob Schneider, David Spade and Jon Heder.
Covert served as executive producer on THE LONGEST YARD, starring Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds and Chris Rock, as well as ANGER MANAGEMENT, starring Sandler and Jack Nicholson. He also produced Sandler's EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS and served as associate producer on BIG DADDY, LITTLE NICKY and MR. DEEDS.
Covert has also collaborated (as co-writer and producer) on five comedy albums with Sandler and Brooks Arthur for Warner Bros. Records.

NICK SWARDSON (Jeff, Screenwriter, Co-Producer) started performing stand-up comedy in 1996 at the age of 19. Within his first year of stand-up, he performed at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival as one of the top new comedians in the country.
In 2000, at the age of 22, Nick reached his biggest achievement in stand-up when he was given his own half hour comedy special on Comedy Central, which became one of the highest rated specials to air on the channel. He relocated to Los Angeles and soon made appearances on "The Tonight Show," "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," "The Late Late Show" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live."
In the summer of 2003, Swardson hit another milestone when a script he wrote with Jamie Kennedy--MALIBU'S MOST WANTED--was green lit by Warner Bros.; the movie went on to triple its cost at the box office.
Nick is currently developing several projects with Adam Sandler and his Happy Madison Productions. Not only did he co-star and co-produce the upcoming comedy THE BENCHWARMERS, starring Rob Schneider, David Spade, Jon Heder and Jon Lovitz, he also co-wrote with Sandler and Allen Covert.
Swardson is also developing his own show for Comedy Central called "Gay Robot," and has signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records to release his own comedy album.

NICHOLAUS GOOSSEN (Director)--a first-time feature film director at the age of 26--met Adam Sandler at the age of 17, when he worked as a camera intern on THE WEDDING SINGER. He then worked as a production assistant on DEUCE BIGALOW: MALE GIGOLO and LITTLE NICKY. Once he got to know Sandler, he was hired by his company, Happy Madison, to run AdamSandler.com. His duties included shooting one short film a week to post on the site, filming DVD behind-the-scenes and b-roll and taking photographs on many of Happy Madison's films, including 50 FIRST DATES, ANGER MANAGEMENT, THE HOT CHICK, EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS and MR. DEEDS.

His first film directing job was on the short "A Day With Meatball" (Sandler's dog), which ran on the front of EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS during its theatrical release. While working on THE LONGEST YARD in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Goossen directed a music video for the song "Secret," off Sandler's fifth comedy album "Shhh… Don't Tell," on which he also served as associate producer.

Return to main menu