The Role: Back when the movie was still called Wichita, Sandler was offered the lead action hero role that eventually went to Tom Cruise, of an eccentric agent who is on the run from the CIA. Showing the sort of self-awareness his detractors surely don't expect, Sandler himself commented, "I just don't see me with a gun" and ultimately passed on the project. Why He Would've Ruined The Movie: While Knight and Day wasn't exactly a sterling success (it was Cruise's worst box office performance for an action film in almost 25 years, ironically being pulverised by Sandler's own Grown Ups, and received mixed notices from critics), it was a relatively solid B-movie actioner in its own right, and as such Sandler would've been so laughably wrong for the part. Sandler has steered clear from visceral action because, as he so aptly put it himself, the sight of him handling weaponry is just preposterous: he's not in enough shape to be convincing as a lithe action hero, and the second he picks up a weapon, audiences are going to expect a laugh-a-minute action comedy like Spy or something. Plus, though Sandler's movies do have a history of pairing him with gorgeous actresses way out of his league, would anyone really buy that Cameron Diaz would be interested in him? And would they have any chemistry at all? Not likely.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
