Did CBS Block Rob Schneider From Appearing In Grown Ups 2?
Even long before the coronavirus pandemic struck the world, Rob Schneider was propagating anti-vaxx views from his high seat in Hollywood. This stance was often criticized as lacking factual and scientific basis, and made the actor something of a pariah in the industry.
For some, this was the main reason why Schneider found himself falling out of favor in Hollywood, and not able to book as many top roles as before. The argument was also made that he played the bad guy so often in movies, that people (including casting directors) started to view him in a similar manner in real life.
One person who clearly had no problem working with Schneider is Adam Sandler. The pair appeared together in multiple films over the years. Among others, the list of their collaborative big screen projects include Big Daddy, The Hot Chicks, 50 First Dates and You Don’t Mess With The Zohan.
Schneider and Sandler were also part of the ensemble cast in the latter’s comedy flick Grown Ups in 2010. Although the film was panned by critics, it was so commercially successful that it earned a sequel. Unfortunately for Schneider, he was not to be part of it.
What Character Did Rob Schneider Play In Grown Ups?
Grown Ups is the story of “Five life-long friends, [who] assemble once more in their hometown for the funeral of their beloved [high school basketball] coach, Bobby “The Buzzer.”
“Intent on spending the July 4th weekend with their families and catch up with the old buddies, the team of Lenny, [a] successful talent agent; Eric, [a] furniture company co-owner; Kurt, [a] stay-at-home-dad; Rob, [a] man with a history of divorces, and Marcus, the womanizer, rent an isolated lake house to continue where they left off. Can they prove that they remain the restless teenagers they used to be?”
This is according to one plot summary on IMDb. Hollywood agent Lenny Feder was the role played by Adam Sandler, with Kevin James featuring as furniture man Eric Lamonsoff, Chris Rock as stay-at-home dad Kurt McKenzie and David Spade as the womanizer Marcus Higgins.
Rob Schneider completed the line-up as Rob Hilliard, a character described as “a hippie friend of Lenny who has been through three marriages with women… and also wears a toupee that extends his hairstyle.”
Rob Schneider Landed His Own Sitcom On CBS After Grown Ups
After the commercial success of Grown Ups, Rob Schneider’s career continued on an upward trajectory, as CBS commissioned the sitcom Rob in 2011. The series was created by Schneider and Lew Morton, both of whom had previously worked on Saturday Night Live.
Rob followed Rob Schneider as a fictionalized version of himself. In the story, he is depicted as “a former lifelong bachelor and landscape architect with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, who marries into a tight-knit Mexican American family and attempts to be closer to them, often ending in disastrous results despite his good intentions.”
Schneider’s co-stars in Rob were Claudia Bassols as his wife Maggie, Cheech Marin and Diana-Maria Riva as Maggie’s parents Fernando and Rosa, Eugenio Derbez as her uncle Hector, and Lupe Ontiveros as Abuelita, her grandmother.
Rob premiered on CBS in January 2012, and ran for eight episodes until March. The series endured a very poor reception from critics and fans alike, and was consequently canceled by the network after just one season.
Did Rob Schneider’s Sitcom Deal With CBS Cost Him A Place In Grown Ups 2?
Adam Sandler went out of his way to fill the cast of Grown Ups with his friends. In fact, he is said to have written the various roles with the specific actors in mind to begin with. It was a bit of a surprise therefore, when Rob Schneider failed to return for the sequel.
This was even more so the case when it became apparent that the actor himself had turned down the opportunity to appear in Grown Ups 2. In justifying his reasoning for the decision, Schneider referred to a scheduling conflict between the film and Rob on CBS. At the same time, he also implied that he wasn’t offered a financial package that he deemed worth accepting.
“They’re doing Grown Ups 2 without me. Mistake,” Schneider was quoted saying, per Vulture. “They should have paid me a lot of money … Well, truthfully, I wasn’t sure if I’d have my TV series, so it was an availability thing, but at the end of the day, they should have [said], ‘What money does Rob need?”
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