Adam Sandler & Mike Binder Reign

'Reign Over Me' star Adam Sandler and director Mike Binder discuss their 9/11-themed drama.

By Stephen Saito

"We just spent too much time at Stubb's, so we're a little loopy," confessed Reign Over Me writer/director Mike Binder, minutes after he and stars Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle sat down for a Q&A session following a screening at the SXSW Film Festival. Sandler couldn't help but chime in about the famous Austin BBQ joint, "great ribs, great people. Great chicken. Great men's room."

The crack would turn out to be a rare moment of levity in their discussion of Reign Over Me, a drama that stars Sandler as a widower who has turned away the world after his wife and daughters died in one of the 9/11 plane crashes. When a college roommate, played by Cheadle, spots him on the street, the two rekindle their friendship out of a shared alienation from the world.

"When I read [the script] the first time, it blew me away." Sandler said of his reasons for taking the part. "I was too scared to actually do it. I ran away from it. I said I can't do it. And then a month later, it was next to my bed. For some reason, I read it again and I said, "Man, that movie is incredible." But I kept wanting a great actor to be in my part and I kept wanting Daniel Day-Lewis to do it."

Audiences won't be disappointed with Sandler, who once again subverts his comic instincts to deliver a touching performance as a grieving, lost husband who drifts along the streets of New York on his scooter. Though Sandler says he's getting more and more used to doing dramatic roles, he adds that he doesn't want to "let down" the fans that are used to seeing him in a certain kind of comedy. "I remember when I was a kid, I saw Jackie Gleason in Gigot. He was a mute and he did this very dramatic movie and I was [thinking], 'Why is he not being funny? Daddy, what's wrong with Jackie Gleason? Jackie's crying. Cheer him up!'"

In Reign Over Me, Sandler sheds a few tears, and he got a big laugh from the SXSW audience when he said, "When I was done shooting this movie, it was the greatest relief I've ever had. I was like, 'I gotta go do seven comedies in a row.'"

Still, Sandler's dramatic work here is already giving others release. One SXSW audience member whose husband died three years ago lauded the film for its honest portrayal of the grieving process. And Reign Over Me's director Binder hopes that people respond to that aspect of the film rather than its connection to September 11th.

"This movie isn't just about 9/11," Binder said. "It's more about grief. And our spotlight is on 9/11 and then it goes to the tsunami and then it goes to Katrina. These people are still here and they don't live in a 24 hour news cycle. There's a bit of a thing in this culture for grief, which is hurry up and get over it or 'let me fix you.' To me, one of the things that I really like about the movie is [that] the fix is to let people be."

Before the screening, we caught up with Binder for a few minutes one-on-one.

Premiere: There were reports online that the studio had originally scheduled the release of the film for November and a possible Oscar campaign for Adam Sandler. Was there a date change?

Mike Binder: It's not true. It was scheduled March 9th and they moved it back a couple weeks, but it was never scheduled for November.

What was the casting process for this film like?

I just got Adam to read the script and he liked it. Then we got Don [Cheadle] to read the script. They're two of the best actors working, so I wasn't going to say no.

What inspiration did you find in 9/11 for the film?

I was there in New York on that day and [then] I was back a couple years later and I thought there's got to be some people still wandering the streets that this day hasn't ended for. So I wanted to do a piece on that and I also wanted to do a piece on male friendship.

Reign Over Me seems to share similar themes to one of your previous films, namely the dramedy The Upside of Anger, which starred Joan Allen as a widow who learns to let go. Did you put yourself in a different mindset to write more male-centric dialogue for this film?

Well, no, not really. I just try to follow the story. I tried to set up a situation where you have two guys for completely different reasons talk to no one. They're in their own bubble for completely opposite reasons. And then it's a movie really about... I boil it down to the healing powers of communication, the restorative powers of having someone to just talk to. My favorite scene in the movie is when they finally start to talk to each other.

What are you working on next?

It's called The Emperor of Michigan. It's kind of a bookend piece to The Upside of Anger. It's about a father and four grown sons and it's set in Michigan.