Even After He Made Them Movie Stars, Adam Sandler’s Daughters Still Don’t Talk to Him

In the unending “nepo baby” discourse, rarely mentioned are the poor nepo parents who will hand their children a movie deal but won’t even get an occasional phone check-in back.

Like many parents in Hollywood, Adam Sandler has been hosting a regular “Take your daughter to work day” throughout the past couple of years as he introduces his two teens, Sadie and Sunny, to the wonderful world of the lucrative Sandler family Netflix deal. The pair previously appeared in Sandler projects like Hubie Halloween and Hotel Transylvania in supporting roles, but the well-received 2023 Netflix film You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah was the first such Sandler production where the young actresses appeared as lead characters. Since then, Sadie and Sunny have also co-starred with their father in Robert Smigel’s animated feature film Leo. And, yet, the pair of precocious performers apparently refuse to engage in any off-screen dialogue with the dad who made it all possible.

Speaking at the premiere of his latest film Spaceman, in which Sunny plays a small part, the Sandler patriarch said that, despite the many creative collaborations he’s had with his two daughters, he’s still just their lame dad when the cameras stop rolling. He advised other showbusiness parents who might consider casting their kids in a movie just to get some quality time with them, “They still don’t talk to you. They go do their thing." Now I’m starting to wonder if Kevin James even returns Sandler’s calls when they’re not about Grown Ups 3.

“They do the best they can, and then they go do their life,” Sandler said of the unique experience of co-starring with his kids. “I am on the side going, ‘Love you.’ I say I love you a lot to them.”

Honestly, the opportunity of working alongside your kids must be one of the more rewarding experiences an A-lister can have once they’re already a super-famous, super-successful movie star. Once an actor/comedian gets to Sandler’s level of career accomplishments, there aren’t a ton of milestones left, and watching your children start their own entertainment journeys has to be a special moment for a father/co-star. 

That said, bringing his daughters into the family business isn’t exactly the finish line for Sandler, either. For all his and his family’s many successes, Sandler’s still probably holding out for a special phone call — either from Sadie or Sunny, or from the Oscars.