Kathy Bates Threw Adam Sandler’s ‘The Waterboy’ Script in the Trash Before Saying Yes
Bates’ niece had to convince her to join the 1998 sports comedy movie.

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Kathy Bates revealed that she was initially hesitant to join the cast of The Waterboy, but changed her mind after her niece told her how famous co-star Adam Sandler was. During a new interview on The Drew Barrymore Show, she said that she read the first 12 pages of the script and promptly threw it in the trash. The Oscar-winning actress recalled how her niece convinced her to join the 1998 sports comedy movie. “She pulled it out of the trash and she said, ‘Adam Sandler! You don’t know ‘The Chanukah Song?!’ I said, ‘No, I haven’t watched.’ She said, ‘You have to do this. You have to do this.’” Bates told Drew Barrymore, who has co-starred with Sandler in multiple romantic comedies, that she has no regrets about being in the film as the Sandler character’s mother, which ultimately became the highest-grossing sports comedy ever. “I have to say, it’s one of my favorite all-time experiences,” she said.
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