Kathy Bates: I didn’t know who Adam Sandler was

LOS ANGELES — Oscar-winning actress Kathy Bates reveals she threw the script for 1998 film “The Waterboy” in the bin after reading just 12 pages because she didn’t know who Adam Sandler was.

The 78-year-old Oscar winner eventually went on to star in the 1998 movie as Mama Boucher, the overprotective mother of Sandler's socially awkward character Bobby Boucher.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Bates said: “I didn’t know who Adam Sandler was and I got a script. It was a football script, and I was like, ‘Oh, let’s give me a football.’ Twelve pages I read and I thought, ‘Oh man, I can’t do this thing. This is ridiculous’.”

“So, I just tossed it in the waste basket, and my niece, who works with me, saw it and picked it out of the (trash). She said, ‘What is this?’ So I said, ‘It’s a script that some kid Adam Sandler (wrote),’ and she went, ‘Adam Sandler! You don’t know the Hanukkah song?”

Bate’s niece was referring to Sandler’s novelty track, The Chanukah Song, which he first performed during his time on Saturday Night Live in 1994, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

She said: “So I took another look at it, and I thought, well, I’ll do this for Linda.”

Bates has no regrets about taking on the role in the sports comedy.

She said: “Turns out we had the most fun. He’s brilliant. He’s a genius. I dove in the deep end and just had a great time. Just screwed around. And I loved working with him. That’s when he first started really getting known and people really flocking to see him.”

The actress currently stars on the TV show Matlock and said that she is grateful for the job as the industry has changed so much for actors in recent years.

“The Waterboy” is a sports comedy film directed by Frank Coraci. It was written by Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy. The film also stars Fairuza Balk, Henry Winkler, Jerry Reed, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Blake Clark, Peter Dante and Jonathan Loughran play other characters.