Sandler, Connelly Pegged for Next Roles

By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday January 29, 2004 11:05 AM EST

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Adam Sandler, poised to open his "50 First Dates" with Drew Barrymore next month, already has his next vehicle in the pipeline: a remake of the 1974 Burt Reynolds comedy "The Longest Yard," about a former football player turned convict who challenges prison guards to a game, reports the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, "A Beautiful Mind" Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, currently costarring in "House of Sand and Fog," is likely to costar with her real-life partner Paul Bettany in the screen adaptation of novelist Phillip Roth's "American Pastoral," according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Evan Rachel Wood ("thirteen") is expected to play the couple's daughter, who disrupts her parents' picture-perfect life by becoming a revolutionary terrorist. Phillip Noyce ("The Quiet American") will direct. No start date has been announced.

As for the Sandler movie, it's due to start filming in June, with Chris Rock and rapper Snoop Dogg under consideration to costar, says the news service.

Sandler's production partner, Jack Giarraputo, tells AP: "Although we plan to update quite a few things, the overall story will remain intact. We want to keep the same blend of comedy and grit that made the first one a classic."