Actor Adam Sandler, best known for comedy movies like Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, and Grown-Ups, is taking on a new type of film. Based on the 2017 novel, The Spaceman of Bohemia, Chernobyl director Johan Renck and Sandler began developing the project in 2020.
Unlike much of his past work, Sandler and Netflix’s Spaceman takes a decidedly serious tone. The film follows Sandler’s character, astronaut Jakub Procházka, who is stranded in space with a mysterious alien spider Hanuš, voiced by The Batman’s Paul Dano, as a companion. Reeling from loneliness and separation from his wife Lenka, portrayed by Carey Mulligan, the otherworldly arachnid offers comfort to the isolated Jakub.
Spaceman acts as a representative for a new direction for Netflix Original productions as well. While Sandler is no stranger to Netflix, having brokered lucrative deal with the company in 2014 that has been extended multiple times since, most films starring him on the platform have been comedies. Spaceman signals both a new creative direction for the star as well as Netflix as a whole.
Netflix has been experimenting with producing and hosting more grand science fiction stories as of late. Spaceman follows the release of Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire, the first of a two-part science fiction story headed by Batman v. Superman’s Zack Snyder. Rebel Moon aims to capture the scale of larger science fiction franchises like Star Wars or Star Trek while keeping the director’s famous gritty flair. A second film in this series, Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver, is set to release later in 2024. Netflix and Snyder hope for Rebel Moon to expand into a larger, Netflix owned and produced, franchise.
While Spaceman compliments this new focus on sci-fi for Netflix, it strikes a decidedly different, more cerebral tone to the more action-focused Rebel Moon.
Spaceman will premiere on Netflix on March 1, 2024. Watch the trailer below.
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