Spaceman
DIRECTOR JOHAN RENCK GUIDES US THROUGH HIS ADAM SANDLER SCI-FI DRAMA
WORDS AMON WARMANN
ADAM SANDLER IN a Netflix movie as an astronaut who buddies up with a giant, talking alien spider? It sounds like one of those high-concept comedies that Sandler built his reputation on. But Johan Renck’s strange, beautiful, and deeply odd Spaceman finds Sandler in serious mode, reflecting on his life, love, and the secrets of the universe. Here, Renck —who most recently directed the 2019 mini-series Chernobyl —talks us through the key beats of his movie.
THE OPENING SHOT
Spaceman opens with Sandler’s spacesuit-clad Jakub, who spends much of the movie in his ship, en route to Jupiter, on strangely Earthly terrain, searching for someone in a body of water. We don’t find out who that person is until the film’s final moments, but the juxtaposition immediately demands your attention. “That scene was intended to be later in the film,” says Renck. “But I wanted to start with something that really pulled you in, and made you lean forward a little bit and ask, ‘What is this?’ You understand that it's a dream, but nevertheless it poses a question. And it’s always good to open a film with a question that you want to find an answer to.”