The Longest Yard:About.com recently sat down with director Peter Segal to talk about the remake...

It's "much more action and drama than I’ve done, but still has comedy to it.

When I first heard about the fact that Happy Madison had purchased the rights to remake the movie, I thought that sounded like a good one,” Segal said.

"Just my gut. Not having anything to do with the film, not being a part of it at that point, I thought, ‘Okay, good, I’m ready to see a remake of that.’"

For Segal, the length of time between version of The Longest Yard (though he doesn’t count Mean Machine from a couple years ago) makes this more appropriate than certain other remakes. “I felt much better about it when I realized it was 1974, 30 years ago. And again, that’s why ironically there are 30-year-old people who have never heard of it. I certainly wouldn’t want to make a movie that was done in the late ‘80s. Some people have. Heaven Can Wait which was less than 30 years old, was basically remade a couple years ago. It’s a choice one makes but I certainly think you’re in safer territory the further away you are from the original.”

For his part, Sandler has committed to the physicality of the role. “He’s currently working out with Sean Salsbury, a 14-year NFL veteran quarterback. He’s training with him. We actually have a pretty intense basketball sequence in the movie. He’s working on that. And we’re writing into the story that he’s six years out of the pros, so a little rustiness is actually good for the character, but he is working on his skills right now very seriously.”

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