Adam Sandler said there’s a good reason he picked a straightforward title for his latest sequel — it was easy to spell.
The follow-up to the 2010 film Grown Ups went against the Hollywood standard of adding long-winded subtitle and instead opted for simplicity — Grown Ups 2.
“It was the easiest to spell,” Sandler told MTV News interviewer Josh Horowitz. “Colin Quinn came up with the title for Grown Ups . He sure did — we didn’t know what to call it. In the beginning it was just called The Lake Movie .”
Sandler said there were some other options to pick from — David Spade suggested it be called Spade and Friends — but ultimately they decided for simplicity.
Adam Sandler and crew also stuck to the simple plot structure of the first movie, with a simple premise and ample room for the cast of comedians to do their thing, plus a little extra.
“I think in a good sequel, you shake it up a little bit, make sure people don’t think you walked through it,” Spade said. “We wanted to make sure we tried extra. Some sequels in the past I’ve seen, I thought that.”
Adam Sandler has been doing the interview rounds in support of Grown Ups 2 , and on Late Night With David Letterman shared his story of a near-death experience on safari in South Africa.
“They were very nice people at this place (the wildlife park), they let me in with a cheetah … and said I could feed the cheetah water with my hands,” Sandler said. “So I did it and something went a little bit wrong.”
The animal pounced, but Sandler said he managed to maintain his cool during the attack .
“What happened was they said you’re not supposed to bend down low by the water and that’s why he got mad. … I played it off real good … (but) I was very nervous … I swear to God when he jumped on me all I was gonna do was let him eat me, there was not one part of me that was gonna fight back. I was like, ‘Alright, this is how I’m dying.”
Adam Sandler and friends can be seen in the simply named Grown Ups 2 starting Friday.
