Many longtime Brendan Fraser fans look back upon his 1994 comedy Airheads with a fond nostalgia, but it's a casting that almost didn't happen. In the film, Fraser co-stars alongside Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi as struggling musicians who hijack a radio station just to get their music played on the airwaves. It was written by Rich Wilkes and directed by Michael Lehmann, and in addition to its leads, it featured a variety of other comedy favorites, such as Chris Farley, Michael McKean, and Judd Nelson.
Per Variety, Sandler and Fraser reunited for an "Actors on Actors" interview, and the conversation turned to Airheads. Sandler says he "discovered" Fraser when the latter was "just a kid," impressed with his work in the caveman comedy Encino Man. Because of this, Sandler, who'd been cast in Airheads, was lobbying to have Fraser come in as one of his co-stars. As Sandler now tells Fraser, there was some pushback behind the scenes as director Michael Lehmann wasn't interested. However, according to Sandler, he saw potential in Fraser and fought for the casting until Lehmann relented.
"I saw you and I was like, 'This guy shouldn't just be a caveman. He should be in a band!' Michael Lehmann was very against it. He was like, 'I don't get it. I don't see the caveman being in this movie.' And I just said, 'He can do other sh*t.' Eventually, I went to his house, like 4 in the morning, woke him up, he said, 'Who are you?' I said, 'Never mind that. Just know Adam Sandler ain't gonna be in Airheads unless ol' Fraser is in it.' So, he changed his little tune."
When Fraser says that Lehmann had flown out to his house to meet with him about the role, seemingly thrilled about getting Fraser on board, Sandler called out the director.
"Well, he's a liar. He's a filthy liar. He didn't want you, I did, and the rest is pretty good. You had a good life blossom. Yeah, way to go!"
Brendan Fraser Embraced Airheads
As Sandler had predicted, Fraser was a natural with his role in Airheads. This may be because he took the role so seriously, even though the film was an outlandish comedy. Recently, Sandler also told EW that he wasn't surprised by Fraser's recent success earned with The Whale, as the actor has a long history of jumping head-on into his roles as he personally saw with Airheads. As Sandler said in that interview:
"He really took [Airheads] serious, he took everything about the full growth of his character and his look and what each line meant. He was never messing around. The fact that he got to make The Whale, and a bunch of great movies over the years, but the fact that it's at such a great crescendo for him right now is not a shock."
You can watch the full Actors on Actors interview with Sandler and Fraser below.