Johan Renck Talks Inspiration For Spaceman, Working With Adam Sandler, and His Breaking Bad Days
Director Johan Renck returns to the silverscreen after Chernobyl with the new Adam Sandler-led sci-fi film Spaceman. Based on the book, Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař, the film follows the story of Czech astronaut Jakub Procházka, played by Sandler. Jakub is six months into a space mission when he is suddenly joined by a creature on his ship, Hanuš, voiced by Paul Dano. In an otherwise lonely space mission, it takes opening up to Hanuš for Jakub to realize his marriage was in disarray long before he got onto his ship. Sandler’s first serious drama role was for the 2019 film Uncut Gems. It left audiences hungry for more roles where Sandler can display his innate acting abilities. Renck gave us just that. Pop Culture Planet’s Danielle Forte sat down with Johan Renck to discuss what went into creating this film, collaborating with Adam Sandler, and his Breaking Bad directing days.
Renck has directed notable TV series episodes preceeding Spaceman, including episodes of Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and most recently, the mini series Chernobyl, which took home the Emmy for Best Limited Series in 2019. Renck recalled how Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan took him under his wing and that directing episodes for the prominent series was the first step in his development as a filmmaker. He called creating and filming Spaceman actually more manageable than directing a TV series, sharing that his miniseries Chernobyl “had 120 shooting days, Spaceman had 40 shooting days.”
Renck reminisced on what drew him to this project to begin with. “I had just come out of a very taxing project, I almost decided to quit my job,” he revealed, “but then this script came along and I said, ‘Holy shit, we have to do this.’” After receiving the script and reading the book, Renck scheduled meeting with Sandler, where they fostered an immediate connection, as well as a mutual love for the story of this film. Renck revealed that Sandler had expressed to him that the script felt similarly to his life story, telling him that he’d “been an ambitious person on the road, while trying to manage a family, and [didn’t] feel understood.” Soon after that very meeting, Sandler was officially “on board” to play Jakub.
Sandler draws quite the crowd when he shows audiences a glimpse of his dramatic acting skills, and it’s no wonder. “When you strip [a comedic actor] of their comedy bits, they become more vulnerable, more naked than a dramatic actor ever would. There’s something really compelling as an audience when we get to see the real human behind all of it,” said Renck. “[Adam] is so subtly fragile, and lonely, and lost in his position in space in this film and I couldn’t have wish for any better actor in this.”
Spaceman is now streaming on Netflix.
