Director defends Adam Sandler after he’s criticised for casting his family in new film

The director of Adam Sandler’s latest film has defended him after the actor was criticised for casting his entire family.

Sandler’s latest project, You Are So Not invited to My Bat Mitzvah, is a family affair as he produces and stars in the comedy as dad Danny Friedman, the on-screen dad to his IRL daughters Sadie, 17, and Sunny, 14, who both star in the film. His real wife, Jackie Sandler, is in the film, along with Idina Menzel who isn’t part of the family in real life.

The movie - which has become the highest rated of Sandler's career - focuses on Stacy and Lydia who are best friends and have 'always dreamed about having epic bat mitzvahs'.

The film's synopsis says: "However, things start to go comically awry when a popular boy and middle school drama threatens their friendship and their rite of passage."

The film arrives amid one of the hottest debates on social media surrounding celeb culture. The phrase of the year is 'Nepo Baby' and if you're not familiar with the term, it’s short for nepotism baby. It's often used to describe notable figures in entertainment - whether it be models, musicians, actors, etc - who have well-known parents that might have been able to give their careers a leg-up.

Think Euphoria star Maude Apatow and her parents Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow, Robert Downey Jr and his dad Robert Downey Sr, Maya Hawke and her parents Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, and Laura Dern and her dad Bruce Dern.

Despite the backlash, director Sammi Cohen, has weighed in on the topic explaining that Sandler, 56, has always worked on projects with his friends.

Netflix

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cohen defended the casting decisions by stating: “Sandler has a reputation for making movies with his friends, and that’s something we all want to do.

“What I say is, he’s still making movies with his friends, but they’re his kids. He is the kind of dad who’s also your best friend,' she added.

'When it comes to the sort of chatter we’re hearing online, I don’t really think twice about it because I’m going like, "Yeah, he’s doing the same thing he’s always done,"' she explained.

Sandler hired Cohen to direct the teen comedy, which landed on Netflix at the end of August, after seeing her coming-of-age feature film Crush.

Netflix

'Sandler was looking for a young Jewish director who could relate to the story of the kids, the culture and how everything needed to be told through a modern lens,' she revealed.

“My earliest talks with him, we talked a lot about movies and creatively aligned so much, and we also talked about being Jewish and how we listened to kids.

“The Sandlers, in general, made me just feel like a part of the family. It’s when you meet someone and you go, ‘Oh, we’re going to be friends for life’,” she explained.

“I’ve learned a ton from Adam — more than I could ever put into words — but the biggest thing is, success is not just making movies,' she added.

“Success is making movies with people you love, and it’s a really different experience, and it really just lends itself to the making of better movies.”