By Bob Tourtellotte
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sometimes art does imitate life, and the stars of the new movie "Click" opening this Friday, Adam Sandler and Kate Beckinsale, ought to know.
The former "Saturday Night Live" star Sandler and beauty Beckinsale say bits and pieces of their real lives found their way into the comedy about a father who gets a TV-like remote control for life and fast forwards to career success at the expense of family life.
Sandler, 39, has worked virtually non-stop over the past 10 years on movies ranging from screwball comedies such as "Happy Gilmore" to dramas like "Punch-Drunk Love" as he expanded his career from comic to dramatic actor.
"I’ve been at work more than I’ve been at home, so I connected with this film," he said.
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
"Click" is a film about family, and Sandler said his dad’s death a few years ago, as well as his daughter’s recent birth gave him a new perspective on the film’s themes.
For her part, Beckinsale, 32, brought her 7 year-old daughter Lily, to the set while making the film to keep her near. Motherhood, especially for a working mom, is not easy.
Asked what she would click on a remote control of her life, she quipped: "I would press pause and take a big ol’ nap."
Sandler agreed. But for the actor, there was at least one striking difference between his life and the movie. In "Click," his character Michael Newman can, at times, be a jerk. "I never thought my father was a real pain in the ass," he said.
In "Click," architect Michael Newman is prosperous, but he wants to build a better life for his wife, Donna (Beckinsale), and their two kids. To do that, he needs money, and to get money, he works long hours to earn a partnership in the firm run by his egocentric boss (David Hasselhoff).
SLOW DOWN, DAD
Newman wishes for a break in his exhausting routine and on a late-night trip to an electronics store, he is shown an experimental "universal remote control" that can give him a "pause," if he wants.
Instead, Michael uses it mostly to fast forward and see how his life turns out. Soon, the super-sophisticated gadget has programmed itself to zoom ahead in Michael’s life, and the father sees himself as a man who has grown old and successful but neglected his wife and kids.
"Click" may remind audiences of movies like Christmas classic "It’s a Wonderful Life," starring Jimmy Stewart as a man who glimpses his future only to see he has forgotten the simple things like family that once made his days special.
"There are similarities, no doubt about it," Sandler said.
But there are differences, too. Unlike "Wonderful Life," there are no angels to show Michael Newman the way to a better existence. In fact, Christopher Walken, who plays the eccentric genius behind the remote control, is more devil than angel.
Early in his career, in movies like "Billy Madison" and "The Waterboy," Sandler played young men who did stupid things but ultimately triumphed over adversity by virtue of a good heart. Michael Newman is older, but cut from the same cloth.
"I don’t seem to be getting much smarter," Sandler joked about his roles. "My father called me a moron. My grandfather called me a moron. Sometimes I’m driving, I hear I’m a moron."
To age both Sandler and Beckinsale, the make-up artists used photos of the stars’ parents.
"The gracefully ageing thing was a bit of a shocker," Beckinsale said, before conceding. "At some point everyone turns into their mother or their father."
Sandler nodded his head in agreement.
