The Adam Sandler comedy ‘Big Daddy’ was originally intended to have a different title. In an interview, producer Sid Ganis and co-writer Steve Franks reflected on the movie’s legacy after 25 years and revealed the “perfect title” it was meant to have. “The title of the script was Guy Gets Kid,” Ganis told the outlet. “I read it, and Alex Siskin, who worked for me, read it, and we thought, ‘This is good.'”
Franks also defended the original title, saying, “I thought ‘Guy Gets Kid ‘was the perfect title because it tells you everything you need to know about the movie in three words. But I guess you could also interpret it as kidnapping.”
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Franks, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sandler and Tim Herlihy, mentioned that he wrote the spec for the movie while working at Disneyland. Observing his co-workers “going off to real jobs,” he thought, “There was a solid chance that I could be a guy who’s 30 years old and at Disneyland,” he recalled.
This train of thought inspired the movie’s plot, which follows a man (Sandler) who adopts a 5-year-old boy (played by Dylan and Cole Sprouse) to impress his ex-girlfriend. The filmmakers also discussed the potential for a sequel, neither outright denying the possibility.
“There are always rumblings about a sequel when a movie is a smash hit. But thank goodness, we knew better. It’s better that ‘Big Daddy’ is what it is,” said Ganis. Franks, however, expressed interest in revisiting the story, saying, “It’s something that I would certainly be interested in revisiting again because it’s such a fun field to play in, and there are a lot of great opportunities. If they ever wanted to make a series or a sequel, I would be absolutely the first one to line up.”
The legacy of ‘Big Daddy’ remains strong, and its success has sparked conversations about what could have been with its original title and the potential for future projects related to the beloved comedy.
-Sushmita Sarkar