Making movies is a serious business, most of the time. Apparently, the filming of Billy Madison was just about as ridiculous as the events that made the film, because Norm MacDonald couldn't be bothered to remain conscious during filming. In a recent interview, that brought together several classic Saturday Night Live cast members, Adam Sandler told a story about the fist time he and MacDonald shot a scene together.
I'm doing a scene with Norm at the pool. I say my line and I think I did it very well. And I'm like let me see how Norm ping-pongs this line back. So there was a little bit of a delay and I was like, 'Old Norm likes to a take his time.' Then I'm waiting longer and going, 'Wow, he's really milking this one.' And a few more seconds later I noticed old Norm was sleeping.
Except it's possible he wasn't just sleeping. When Conan O'Brien asked Norm MacDonald about the incident the comedian responded that his character was supposed to be a drunk, so he asked the production team for booze. It would appear that they were provided. As Yahoo points out, this is what you call "method acting."
Did we really expect anything less from these folks? Billy Madison was one of a line of films, mostly starring Adam Sandler, that also co-starred numerous members of the Saturday Night Live cast, they were all utterly ridiculous, though there were some undeniable laughs, but you sort of got the impression hat making those films was something more on par with an old fraternity getting back together than it was a bunch of grown ups doing a job. Norm MacDonald's entire role in the film is pretty much to just sit by the pool and be drunk. He doesn't impact the story in any necessary way. Would it really be that shocking if he viewed the entire thing as a vacation and just drank a lot? He was probably getting paid pretty well for his handful of scenes. Sounds like a party to me.
Billy Madison has probably survived the test of time a bit better than other Adam Sandler films. While it's difficult to call it a "good" movie in the traditional sense. It's the sort of thing that you can throw on the TV and certainly find laughs in. Which is your go to Adam Sandler movie? Let us know in the comments below.
