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This Issue 05/26/2005

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• A mellower Chris Rock

Successful comedians tend to clump together. During their heyday, Chevy Chase, Dan Akroyd, Eddie Murphy and Bill Murray frequently used their individual star powers to create box-office friendly collaborations. Recently, since the release of movies like Old School and Zoolander, Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller have appeared in numerous films together. Indeed, certain entertainers are able to adeptly feed off of each other's styles and have made successful careers out of it. It's a wonder, then, that the comedians our generation was raised on -- the mid-'90s Saturday Night Live crowd of Mike Myers, David Spade, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and so on - have (at least in the last 10 or so years) steered clear of these projects. In fact, the new film The Longest Yard is the first time Sandler and Rock, perhaps the movement's two most lasting contributions, have shared the limelight on film.
It surprises Rock himself. "It's weird," he says on a conference call to promote the film, "we shared an office, got hired the same day, have known each other for about 20 years working in the clubs and we never did anything together. I don't know, we just waited for the right thing and I guess it meshed. People buy the friendship." He's quick to note that the lack of shared spotlight was not based on any sort of mutual dislike. "We help each other out all the time and we hang out all the time," he says about the relationship with his SNL class.
The Longest Yard remakes a 1974 film of the same name. Sandler stars as Paul Crewe, an ex-football star incarcerated for an unwise choice involving alcohol and cars. In prison he befriends Rock's character, fellow convict Caretaker, as well as another ex-legend, Nate Scarborough, portrayed by Burt Reynolds (who starred as Crewe in the 1974 version). Under their leadership, the convicts form a football team and bond around the common goal of defeating the sadistic guards in a much-hyped showdown.
While the 1974 version was more of an earnest action film, its remake pushes the comedy aspect further. "This is more, like, comedy-action," Rock says. "We're really going for the jokes in this one." By changing the nature of the film, he was allowed to be the Chris Rock we all expect. "I mean, people hire me to be me," he explains, "so I just had to figure out ... you know, 'what if Chris Rock was in jail as Caretaker?' It wasn't hard at all."