Adam Sandler surfing in Malibu. © x17 Agency
Adam Sandler Hits the Beach
Sep 27 2006 / Los Angeles, Calif.
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Adam Sandler was out surfing the other day and it was pretty cool. Sandler is a decent, fairly normal guy who is also a phenomenally successful comic actor with a gold-plated credit list of movies, comedy albums and TV shows going back to 1984. He also happens to be bright, funny, golden and beloved the world over from Palestine to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. But despite all that, when Sandler is out and about and mingling with the citizenry he tries very hard to be the guy he was before the fickle finger of fate tapped him to be the Jerry Lewis/Charlie Chaplin of the 21st Century. That said, he does a pretty good job of blending in with the crowd and on this day at a surf spot in L.A. County, he was just another average surfer scrambling and bubbling and banging rails for meager little two foot waves on a picture perfect, “I Love L.A.!” spring afternoon.
On that day Sandler was hoping to be another dingaling in the crowd, catching a few waves, dropping in on people, getting dropped in on. And like anyone else the ocean didn’t cut him any breaks and neither did the crowd. The couple of dozen of wave-hungry L.A. County citizens were far too intent on getting some to recognize a mega movie star and that was cool. That was how Sandler wanted it. He liked being just another rubber-suited wethead in the crowd and he was able to catch a few waves, flop around, fall off and no one cared.
Adam was sitting on the inside, picking off the scraps, by himself, not getting in anyone’s way or having anyone get in his way. He was riding a longboard, a Surf Tech and had a nice wetsuit. He seemed to be out there with a posse that looked like friends, not bodyguards or “people” and they were all having a good time, splashing around on a nice weather day but a lackluster day for surf.
He was surfing at a place that can be happy and social, or shockingly cutthroat and on this day the surf was so bad that the crowd had no choice but to be civil.
In return Sandler was civil and talkative, in between waves, and friendly. When people approached him he asked their names, and introduced himself as Adam. That got him the open-mouthed double take that he probably gets a hundred times a day. But most people were too busy surfing to pester him, although occasionally someone would pop a question.
“Am I old or is 'Saturday Night Live' not funny anymore?” someone asked.
“Well you’re old,” Sandler said with a sweet smile. “But hey it’s not easy to be funny once a week, believe me.”
Someone had seen Sandler sitting courtside at basketball game a few nights before.
“What is Shaq like up close and personal?” someone asked
“Confident!” Sandler answered.
Someone pitched a movie idea to Sandler, called 'Bubblehead': “Imagine a guy who has something happen to him and he can all of a sudden read thought bubbles over people’s heads!” he said.
Adam just smiled politely, as everyone tried to read the thought bubble over his head.
This went on for about an hour, as the surf trickled in and the wind got better and the sun sank behind the mountains. Sandler was getting as much as he could, probably trying to wash away a long, drawn out shoot on whatever multi-million dollar movie he was working on. He’s been in a few movies if you hadn’t noticed.
To see Sandler in a crowd, on the beach or even in the surf, is to understand how it could be a pain in the ass to be a celebrity. When Adam Sandler is Adam Sandler he is constantly approached for photos and autographs and whatever else. It’s easy to see how that could be a drag after a while, especially when he has come to the beach for some peace and quiet and privacy, as we all do. Sandler handles the attention very, very well but he deserves his privacy and so the location and the times of this particular surf session are disguised to protect his privacy. It would be profoundly uncool to launch the kind of paparazzi beach invasion that circled poor Britney Spears a few weeks ago. Britney was in L.A. for whatever reason and got away from the shady turf of Hollywood to catch some rays in the sunny surf along Will Rogers State Beach. She was with a guy but word got out, and the wanton ambling nymph found herself surrounded by land sharks with cameras. It was pretty ugly, and it would be really uncool to launch such a thing on Sandler. But he would probably handle it better thank Brittney. But then again who knows. It seems like anyone in Hollywood could pull a Sean Penn if not left alone, especially when just trying to go for a surf.
Sandler is a decent guy and a decent surfer. He surfs OK, for a Jewish guy from New Hampshire who spends too much time on movie sets making gazillions of dollars. It is obvious that he loves surfing and loves the ocean and would probably devote more time to surfing if people would just stop offering him $20 million per movie. Judging Sandler’s surfing skills in skiing terms, he is beyond Green but not yet Black Diamond, so that would make him solid Blue.
Sandler surfs OK except for one quirk. When he ends a wave he usually does this kind of dorky, twisting flop which, like everything else he does, is kind of funny. But it’s also kind of hazardous because he lets his board go flying off wherever and that can have consequences at a place where there are always people everywhere.
As seen from behind on one wave, Sandler paddled and stood on a wave that a young woman was already riding. He took off anyway, as is par for this place and then rode the wave for a while, with the girl behind him and someone else behind her. When he got to the end Sandler did that twisting dismount, and his board flew up and popped the girl good in the side of her head. For a second there it looked like he might have done serious damage, but the girl brushed it off, kicked out and paddled back out on her knees.
As she passed the inside pack, someone asked if she was okay.
“I’m fine,” she smiled. “You know how this place is.”
“Do you know who that was?” someone asked.
“No,” she said, already over it.
“That was Adam Sandler!” someone revealed.
The girl stopped paddling for a moment and looked over her shoulder, back toward the surfing movie star who was paddling, sheepishly, back out.
“Celebrity Justice, here I come!” the girl squealed, then paddled back to the top of the point to get some more.
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