Henry Winkler’s shocking salary for Adam Sandler’s ‘The Waterboy’ revealed
By Eric Todisco,
8 hours ago
That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Henry Winkler said that he was compensated with only “a cookie” after he agreed last-minute to be in Adam Sandler’s 1998 comedy “The Waterboy.”
“I did ‘Waterboy.’ [Sandler] called me up in the middle of the night. He said, ‘Henry, I need a favor. My actor didn’t show up. I need you to drive right now to the park in LA,’ ” Winkler recalled on Kelly Ripa’s “Let’s Talk Off-Camera” podcast .
“It is now 11:30 at night. I go and I say OK. I shave. I drive. I go. I sit. I get makeup until 3:30 in the morning,” Winkler said. “Do you know what I got? A cookie.”
A surprised Ripa, 54, pointed out that Winkler, 78, has done three movies with Sandler, 58, since then — 2000’s “Little Nicky,” 2006’s “Click” and 2008’s “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” — so she assumed Sandler had been more generous to Winkler.
Henry Winkler and Adam Sandler at the “Click” premiere in 2006. WireImage
“There’s no Maserati for Henry Winkler?” Ripa asked.
“I didn’t even get to keep my wardrobe,” the “Barry” star replied with a laugh.
When asked what kind of car he’d like from Sandler, Winkler said, “I don’t want a Maserati because that would be so low to get into. I would have to sleep in it. I could never get out.”
Instead, Winkler said he’d prefer “the small version” of a Lexus.
“The Waterboy” stars Sandler as a water boy for a college football team who discovers he is a skilled tackler, so he becomes the linebacker. Winkler plays the coach of the team.
The film, directed by Frank Coraci, also stars Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk and Jerry Reed.
Henry Winkler and Adam Sandler in “The Waterboy.” Everett Collection / Everett Collection
Despite the cookie drama, Winkler had high praise for Sandler.
“I love him. He is whatever you imagine,” Winkler told Ripa of the “Happy Gilmore” star. “He is wacky. He is different. He is a family man. He is loyal. He is funny. He is in amazement. He has a vision.”
Henry Winkler, Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler at “The Waterboy” premiere in New York in 1998. Corbis via Getty Images
“You know, when he directs or he’s in a movie, he is in charge of every detail,” Winkler went on. “There’s not a frame that gets by him. No matter what it is. I love him and I respect him deeply.”
Winkler then got in one more jab in at Sandler: “I’m not crazy about the way he dresses.”
Sandler is known for his casual attire and has become a Gen Z fashion trendsetter, which he’s claimed was not on purpose.
“You know, this is an accidental thing,” he told People in August, “but here I am wearing goofy clothes, and I don’t know. I don’t think about it.”
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