Big Daddy was released June 25, 1999. The movie was a box-office success, launched the careers of Cole and Dylan Sprouse, and introduced us to “Hip Hop Anonymous”. This Reel Trivial list covers 17 verified facts about the film and its production.
1. Adam Sandler based the scene where Julian (Dylan and Cole Sprouse) and Sonny play cards—while Julian insists he wins—on a real interaction he had with his nephew, Jared. During a card game, Jared Sandler kept asserting he had won regardless of his hand.
2. Sonny’s girlfriend leaves him for Sid, played by actor Geoffrey Horne. Horne is known primarily for his role as Lt. Joyce in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Horne was also Adam Sandler’s acting teacher when Sandler attended NYU.
3. Dylan and Cole Sprouse were the first child actors to audition for the part of Julian. After auditioning numerous other kids, the casting team ultimately went back to the Sprouse brothers.
5. As a child, Adam Sandler owned a Diver Dan bath toy, but later lost it. To make him feel better, Sandler’s dad dressed up in a scuba suit and told Adam he was Diver Dan’s father and thanked him for looking after his “son” (the toy). This inspired the scene where Sandler pays a visit to Julian dressed as “Scuba Steve”.
6. Leslie Mann kept the breast-enhancing pads she wore as the character Corinne after filming wrapped. She said she still maintains them by applying baby powder so they don’t disintegrate.1
7. Screenwriter Tim Herlihy plays the singing kangaroo in the “Kangaroo Song” video. Herlihy also co-wrote other Sandler films such as Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, and The Waterboy. “Mr. Herlihy” is also the name of the old man who Sonny exchanges insults with at the bar.
8. Director Dennis Dugan plays the reluctant trick-or-treat giver who’s forced to give Julian his cereal, CDs, and wristwatch.
9. Dugan also appeared in a 1976 episode of Columbo, “Last Salute to the Commodore”, as the character Sgt Theodore “Mac” Albinsky. The episode plays on Sonny’s TV while Nazo (Rob Schneider) mentions how Columbo is sharp as a tack.
10. The song “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals featured prominently in the movie’s marketing, including the theatrical trailer and an HBO First Look promo.
11. After meeting Adam Sandler at a party, Jackie Sandler (née Titone) made her film debut in Big Daddy as the sports bar waitress who talks to Julian. She and Sandler married in 2003. 2
12. Actor Pete Davidson stated that his mom took him to an audition for Big Daddy when he was around five years old.
13. In the courtroom scene, the lawyer standing next to social worker Arthur Brooks introduces himself as Ted Castellucci. Teddy Castellucci is a film composer known for working on Adam Sandler’s films, including Big Daddy.
14. The movie originated as a spec script written by Steve Franks titled Guy Gets Kid. Franks worked at Disneyland at the time he wrote it, and said it was written while he worked in the Tiki Room. Franks later went on to create the TV series, Psych.
15. Producer Sid Ganis said that Chris Farley was originally in talks for the role of Sonny in an early stage of development. Ganis even met with Farley to discuss the project.
16. In the theatrical trailer, Sonny simply yells “No!” after being told that McDonald’s stops serving breakfast at 10:30 AM. In the movie, he yells “Aw, horseshit!”.
17. The movie was released on VHS and DVD on November 2, 1999.
