Adam Sandler Plays the Dual Roles of ‘Jack and Jill’

Adam Sandler Plays the Dual Roles of ‘Jack and Jill’

Director Dennis Dugan re-teams with Adam Sandler for the eighth time on Columbia Pictures’ new comedy “Jack and Jill.”

In the film, Jack (Sandler) was living an almost perfect life, with the exception of one, annoying constant – his twin sister Jill (also played by Sandler). Every year he has to tolerate a Thanksgiving visit from his smothering sister, who doesn’t take long to turn his life upside down. As the weekend intrusion starts stretching into a month, the siblings fight, tease, and bicker in the way only twins can. When it becomes clear Jill is never leaving, Jack sets into motion several schemes that he hopes will return Jill to where he loves her most – the other side of the country.

“What I found interesting was that somewhere partway through the production I thought of Adam as playing Jack, but I thought of Jill as if she were her own person. Adam didn’t walk around off-camera acting like Jill, but after a while, it was as if Jill was a woman we hired who happened to look remarkably like Adam.”

In the film, Sandler plays Jack, an advertising executive who is one commercial away from hitting the big time – or, if the deal falls through, unmitigated disaster. Into this turmoil comes his twin sister, Jill – who always makes things more complicated than they need to be.

“I knew Adam would have no problem playing Jill. The part he worked at was to play Jack,” says Steve Koren, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sandler. “Jack’s the kind of guy who’s a little bit on edge – he’s had to work to make that guy different from who he really is.”

While writing the film with Adam Sandler, Koren found some interesting things. “Some twins actually create their own language when they’re little kids, so we invented a special, private language that only Jack and Jill speak,” he says. “We also found out that twins have a bond that is a lot stronger than some siblings, so we tried to incorporate as much of that as possible.”

Playing the dual role required an ingenious sense of timing from Sandler. “Part of the joke was that Jack and Jill would do the exact same things at the exact same time,” Koren explains. “What that meant, of course, was that Adam would do the scene once, and then he’d redo it as the other character. It was almost like a dance, a ballet; Adam had to have incredible focus and perfect timing. It was pretty incredible to watch.”

Describing the character and the plot of the film, Koren explains, “Jill had only two constants in her life – taking care of her parents and the love of her bird, Poopsie. She’s sacrificed her personal life. When she comes to visit Jack for the holidays and won’t leave, Jack tries to help her find a guy – a guy who he hopes will get her out of his house.”



Opening across the Philippines on February 22, “Jack and Jill” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.