Adam Sandler Tells His Aspiring-Actor Teen Daughters to Learn from This Costar (Exclusive)

The actor from “Space” and his wife Jackie are parents to daughters Sadie (17) and Sunny (15).

Adam Sandler has some practical advice for his daughters, aspiring actresses Sadie, 17, and Sunny, 15: Learn from Carey Mulligan’s performance.

“Our children want to be actors. And we’re like, ‘Well, watch Carey,'” Sandler, 57, tells PEOPLE of Mulligan, his co-star in the new Netflix sci-fi drama Space. The performance of the 38-year-old in Maestro it also earned her a Best Actress nomination at this year’s Oscars.

IN Space, Sandler plays Jakub, an astronaut on a solo mission in space. On Earth, Jakub’s pregnant wife Lenka (Mulligan) has become unhappy with the relationship dynamic and decides to leave her husband while he is millions of miles away.

Sensing that Lenka is drifting away, Jakub begins to confide in the spider alien Hanus (voiced by Paul Dano) who has made his way to the spaceship.

Marc Piasecki/WireImage

Adam Sandler finds his next dramatic role as an astronaut trying to save his marriage Space First Look

“I love Carey. Look, those are the things she does in the movie, there’s no way I could do that. There’s no way I could. I just look at her and go, ‘Well, that’s just the next level of acting,’” quips Sandler.

Carey Mulligan and Adam Sandler in ‘Space’.

Courtesy of Netflix

“I was just trying to make sure I wasn’t bothering Carey. She is amazing. It’s so real. It’s that simple,” he continues.

Sandler recalls being moved during one scene in which Lenka records a message to Jakub, explaining that she is leaving him.

“This scene — I wasn’t in it — but I was there that day and I watched Carey say goodbye. And my God, I couldn’t believe how amazing it was to watch and how deep it went,” he adds.

The Sandler Family 2023.

Amy Sussman/Getty

Mulligan is also a fan of Sandler’s work. “I’m such a big fan,” he said A promising young woman the star recently said in an interview with Netflix. “Actually, I watched all his movies before filming.”

But Sandler tells PEOPLE that’s not entirely true. “She only watched six,” he jokes. “She started them all. He turned them off a lot.”

Her two favorites? Comedy from 1998 The boy from the water and animated in 2023 Leoin which the voices of Sander’s daughters are also heard.

“She loves Leo. You wouldn’t think he would love Leo because she is a grown lady, but she locked herself with Leo”, says Sandler.

Adam Sandler and wife Jackie shared a kiss on the red carpet at the 2024 People’s Choice Awards.

Mulligan says she’s also partial to the 2017 drama Meyerowitz storiesstarring Ben Stiller and Dustin Hoffman.

“I think you like it because you thought I was Stiller in it,” Sandler jokes.

“I thought you were Stiller. I love Stiller,” Mulligan replies.

Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan.

Gerald Matzka/Getty

“She loves Stiller, and it kind of worked for me,” Sandler replies.

Sandler has previously spoken about giving career advice to his daughters. “I tell them to make sure you feel good about what you’re doing and how hard you’ve worked, and you’re judging yourself,” he told PEOPLE last year at Leo premiere.

“Don’t let too many people try to get into your head. If you feel you did your best, that’s all you can ask for,” he continued.

In 2023, Sandler, Jackie and their girlfriends also starred in a Netflix comedy-drama You are not invited to my Bat Mitzvah. Sadie and Sunny played on-screen father-daughter duo Ronnie and Stacy.

They have appeared in other Sandler films, including the 2010 comedy Adults and comedy in 2020 Hubie Halloween. Sunny also has a small role in Space.

Space streams on Netflix on Friday, March 1.

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Source: HIS Education