Justin Jacobs

There maybe no more confounding actor on the planet than Adam Sandler. You might say Nicholas Cage, but anytime he shows up in a new project I honestly know what the vibe of the film is going to be regardless of who is directing. With Sandler I’m not sure if I’m going to get a generation defining performance like he gives in Uncut Gems, a screwball comedy that feels like he’s just getting the bag to hang out with his buds for a few months, or whatever Murder Mystery 2 happens to be.

Sandler is clearly someone who is not going to say no to a mountain of cash when a company like Netflix decides to throw it at him, and he seems to be using that money to get critically acclaimed, fun movies (Hustle, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah) greenlit. He’s also an undeniably great actor, who, when paired with the directors like the Safdie Brothers or Paul Thomas Anderson is as good as anyone we have in Hollywood. That’s why when I saw the trailer for Spaceman in my YouTube feed this morning I wasn’t sure what the hell to expect. It was an exhilarating experience to play not knowing anything about the movie.

In this new film Sandler plays the titular Spaceman Jaykup, who is starting to lose his wits while being isolated on a space ship for six months. His wife, played by Carrey Mulligan (great in Maestro!), is pregnant and not happy that her husband isn’t there with her. Throughout the trailer we’re shown what seems to be fantasy worlds inside of Jaykup’s head as he tries to piece together what is going wrong in his marriage.

Here is the official synopsis:

Six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, an astronaut, Jakub (Sandler), realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. Hanuš (voiced by Paul Dano) works with Jakub to make sense of what went wrong before it is too late.”

Spaceman is being directed by Johan Renck, who was principal director of Chernobyl, (one of my favorite series of all-time) and also directed episodes of Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Halt and Catch Fire. The film is being adapted by Colby Day from the Jaroslav Kalfar 2017 novel Spaceman of Bohemia. It releases March 1 on Netflix and is coming to select theatres February 23.