Spaceman: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano and Johan Renck at the Berlinale 2024 press conference

Who knew that Celine Dion helped Adam Sandler get into character? At the Berlinale press conference for Netflix’s Spaceman, Carey Mulligan mentioned how her leading man brings a boombox to his film sets, but will often let his co-stars pick the music. It was Mulligan who insisted upon listening to Celine Dion, but Sandler didn’t protest too much. “I liked it! I loved the Celine,” said the actor, who was pleased to be told by a Brazilian journalist that a TV station in the South American country has broadcast Sandler’s 2004 film 50 First Dates every day for around 20 years. “I kept wondering – why do I keep getting all these cheques from Brazil?” he joked.

Sandler plays Jakub Procházka, a Czech astronaut dispatched on a solo mission to investigate a mysterious pink nebula that appeared in the far reaches of the solar system. Mulligan plays his wife Lenka, who feels abandoned back on Earth and is really questioning her husband’s priorities. Adapted from the 2017 novel Spaceman of Bohemia, Sandler often forgot the new title of his film, repeatedly referring to it as “The” Spaceman.

The star of You Don’t Mess with the Zohan and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry seemed taken aback by the typically philosophical questions asked at a Berlinale press conference. Spaceman deals with notions of time and memory, leading to Sandler being asked about how these broad concepts relate to his role in the film.

“Your question was deep, man. I’m telling you, this jetlag thing is killing me,” said Sandler. “While you were saying that, I was going, I have no idea, I don’t know what’s going on right now. I was stuck on 50 First Dates Brazil, and then I lost you. What the hell was the question again? You said something great. Time and memory! They connect, and everybody knows why. But yeah, man, I don’t know. I don’t know,” he concluded, to laughter.

Mulligan skillfully deflected a question that was perhaps too personal. When asked if her own interpersonal relationships had helped in playing out the dysfunctional relationship in the film, the actress said, “There are some things, I think, as an actor that you probably don’t speak to, you know – there are things that we all draw on in every performance that are deeply personal from all different parts of our life, and I think unpacking it for people, kind of takes away a little bit of the work, or the interest in your work. And what’s more interesting for an audience is to put their own lives into what they see.”

Swedish director Johan Renck is best known for his music videos, most notably Madonna’s Nothing Really Matters and Hung Up, Kylie Minogue’s Love at First Sight and David Bowie’s Lazarus – the last single to be released in the singer’s lifetime. Spaceman marks his second feature film after 2008’s poorly-reviewed Downloading Nancy (with an 18% Rotten Tomatoes score), and the filmmaker was keen to distance his latest work from other sci-fi efforts with similar themes. “I choose to not be influenced by other movies at all,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think it’s our responsibility to make movies that are not, sort of, you know, leaning on the shoulders of other films. Of course, they’re part of our journey, but I think part of the idea is to make stuff that hasn’t been done before, you know, and to take our experiences to places they haven’t been before. I personally do not like the idea of using other films as a tool for my own filmmaking. And besides, I’m not really a film person anyway. I’m a book person, I read books, and I think the imagery I create in my head while reading a book is why I’m a filmmaker.”

The cast and crew appeared to be enjoying their time in the German capital, even if Berlin’s legendary clubbing scene didn’t live up to the hype. “We were gonna go to a club last night – it was closed,” said Sandler. “We looked around, no one would open up for us, so we went to a bar, had a great time. The playlist wasn’t perfect, we wanted louder music.” If only he had brought his boombox and Celine Dion’s greatest hits on compact disc.

Oliver Johnston
Image: Berlin Film Festival

Spaceman is released on Netflix on 1^st March 2024.

Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival 2024 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Spaceman here: