Why Steve Buscemi Wasn’t Thrilled on the Set of ‘Grown Ups’

Steve Buscemi didn’t love every moment of filming the movie Grown Ups.

In the 2010 film, Buscemi’s character, Wiley, suffers an injury at the waterpark, which leaves him in a full body cast with his arms straight up in the air by the end of the movie.

“The whole cast [of actors] was there because it’s one of the big scenes, and it started to rain. They got the scene, and then everybody just scatters,” Buscemi, 66, recalled on Grown Ups costar David Spade’s podcast “Fly on the Wall” on Wednesday, March 27. (Spade hosts the show alongside Saturday Night Live alum Dana Carvey.)

“I was like, ‘I thought we were friends.’ Nobody’s checking on me,” Buscemi added.

When the Boardwalk Empire actor thought he was done with the scene and could change out of his full body cast, the assistant director told him they needed an extra shot — which ended up really upsetting him.

“The [assistant director] said, ‘Well, I think they want to get a shot where the dog comes up and sniffs your balls.’ I actually got mad. I went, ‘Are you f–ing kidding me?!,’” he shared, noting that the hands in the film were not his real hands so, thankfully, his arms weren’t tired.

Grown Ups, cowritten and coproduced by Adam Sandler, followed a group of five friends and former basketball teammates, Lenny (Sandler), Eric (Kevin James), Kurt (Chris Rock), Marcus (Spade) and Rob (Rob Schneider) — who are also Sandler’s real-life friends. After the sudden death of their high school basketball coach, the five men and their families reunite during the 4th of July weekend.

Sandler, 57, later admitted that Grown Ups, which became a huge success and grossed $272 million at the box office, was inspired by said real-life friends, whom he knew he wanted to feature in the movie.

“Me and Fred Wolf wrote the movie. The whole idea was about putting together old friends that get to hang out for a weekend,” Sandler said in a June 2010 interview with Collider. “These guys are my old friends, so it made total sense. I’m glad they said yes to it.”

Due to the popularity of Grown Ups, Sandler created the 2013 sequel Grown Ups 2, which included the same cast. Grown Ups 2 went on to make nearly $300 million globally.

“The first Grown Ups was about family and friendship. That is what I like talking about a lot,” Sandler told The Independent in August 2013. “The first shoot we did three years ago? That was one of the best summers of my life. It was one of the best summers of all our lives, just hanging out with our families. I guess we all wanted to relive that again.”