Man who's looked like Adam Sandler since he was eight stunned as actor offered him movie role

Imagine if your uncanny resemblance to a famous movie star led to you getting cast alongside them in a movie.

Well, that's a situation Max Kessler got to experience himself.

Ever since he was eight years old, Kessler has been reminded of his shared appearance with the 58-year-old. Sandler has several hit films under his belt, including Grown-Ups, 50 First Dates, and Uncut Gems, and he's got a very familiar look, too.

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While Kessler says he wasn't that much into films, as he was 'more into sports', he'd expressed an interest in meeting Sandler in person one day.

In 2016, the Click star even starred in the action comedy film The Do-Over, where he played a character called Max Kessler - a surprising coincidence which wasn't lost on Kessler.

"What are the odds of that?" he told PEOPLE. "So I posted about it to Reddit, and it blew up."

News of his doppelganger soon reached Sandler, who then invited the 32-year-old to the premiere of the film. The two met on the red carpet, with the star calling him the 'younger, sweeter, better version of me'.

“I was super nervous because he’s one of the best — if not the best — comedians and actors of all time, and I hadn’t met the guy,” recalls Kessler. “But it was a blast. It was probably one of the best moments I’ve had.”

After that brief meeting, Kessler might have been forgiven for thinking that was it, but nine years on, he was offered the chance of a 'body double role' in the recently released Netflix film, Happy Gilmore 2.

When he arrived at the production offices for golf lessons, Kessler was asked if he'd be ok with acting out a scene in front of the hundreds of people in the crew.

He said: “I was thinking to myself, ‘I don’t really know if I could do that.' But I confidently said, ‘Absolutely.’ ”

“If you’re not an actor, you just have no idea what anyone’s saying. I just remember thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m standing, about to do a scene in front of all of these people.’ ”

While it featured a huge amount of special guests and cameos, including Bad Bunny, Eminem and Rory McIlroy, to name just a few, Kessler had the honour of playing a younger version of Happy in one of the film's flashback scenes.

And Sandler was there to help him, as the comedian would act out scenes and give pointers to Kessler on how to nail his motions.

Kessler also worked with Modern Family legend Julie Bowen, whom he described as 'phenomenal' after she helped him through some of his scenes.

Even after filming multiple scenes and earning himself an invite to the premiere, Kessler still wasn't convinced he'd appear in the film.

He said: "I was shaking. You film all of these scenes, and you don’t know what’s going to make it and not going to make it. Seeing yourself in the credits, you’re just like, 'wow'. This is just bonkers.”

However, the acting bug has seemingly bitten Kessler, as he said he's 'open to' more acting gigs, but does eventually want to be known more than being 'Adam Sandler’s mini me'.