All the elements for a great romantic comedy were there, Juvonen continues. “This was too good a story to not be involved in. The role of Lucy calls for someone to fall in love all over again every single day, and Drew, who falls in love more passionately than anyone I know on the planet, was a perfect fit. And who better to fall in love with than Adam Sandler? He’s got such an easy charm. He’s funny, easy-going, laid back. He knows how to use his wit to make you laugh and there is something charming and sexy about that. When Drew responds to somebody, you can see it. She has passion in her eyes.”

The decision to reteam with Sandler was an easy one for Barrymore, who says she had the “best time of my life doing The Wedding Singer. When I’m having a hard day or need to escape outside of my brain,” says the actress, “there are certain types of films that make me feel happy. They are like medicine. To me, Adam’s films are like a beautiful medicine. I believed with all my heart that we were supposed to make this film. I believe in fate and destiny, but I also feel that you have to gently push things through the channels of the universe. So when I ran into Jack Giarraputo at a party, I mentioned to him how much Nan and I loved this story and then I sat down and wrote Adam a letter.”

What enticed Barrymore about the script was the underlying theme behind its premise, she says. “I thought that a story about a man who has to make his girl fall in love with him every day as if each day is new ­ because in her world it is ­ was the best thing I’d ever heard of. I just love the idea of someone trying to make somebody fall in love with you every day. I think that should always be a goal. It’s a beautiful practice and a beautiful message.”

“Sometimes Henry misses and sometimes he hits but I think a person’s determination is one of his most underrated qualities. It’s what enables Henry to grow.”

Adds Giarraputo, "Adam liked the fact that Henry is a character who becomes a good guy rather than just being a good guy all the time. You start out with someone who is like a revolving door with women. Then he meets this wonderful girl that he likes very much only to discover that there's a fatal flaw."

It was Happy Madison that brought Peter Segal into the mix. Says Segal, “I had just spent a year and a half with Adam on Anger Management, and we had a blast. We were deep into post-production when he asked me if I would do this movie and I jumped at the chance. Making a film is a little like going to war. You become closer because movies are physically tough and it takes incredible endurance to live through months of 14 to 16 hour days. In the end you become comrades. So it’s nice to keep the family together."

Continues Segal, “Adam and Drew were fantastic in The Wedding Singer and they had been looking for the right project to hook up on again. This seemed like an ideal kind of film for that. They are both very smart business people as well as being talented actors. And their companies are incredibly prolific, with a number of projects in various stages of pre-production. It’s very helpful to have actors that know and understand the business. Drew has made more than 30 films. Nothing can faze someone who’s been around the camera for that long. She's also one of the nicest people in the world. It’s very rare that someone comes in every day with a smile on her face, shouting out ‘good morning everyone’ and telling a joke of the day. No matter how difficult things got, especially when we were in Hawaii with the sun going behind clouds, then sun again, then clouds, lots of delays, she kept a wonderful atmosphere on the set.”

Barrymore, who had never worked with Segal before, warmed to him right away. “When Nan and I met with Pete, he said every single thing we were hoping to hear about how we wanted the tone of the film to feel. He understood the great balance between the comedy and the drama of the story. And this film needed that because it goes from being very funny to touching on some serious and interesting issues.”

Even after 30 films, given the right project, Barrymore says there’s almost no place she’d rather be than on a movie set ­ either as an actor or producer, or both. “There are moments when I’m working,” she says “when I can’t believe how lucky I am. Not only am I in an occupation that I chose - which is already a gift - but I’m working on a particular endeavor with a person that I really love. There’s nothing better than waking up every morning looking forward to going to work. Each person involved on a film sets the tone and if they are consistent every day, it makes the whole thing very safe. Adam provides that consistency and safety and levity. He is always kind and nice to everyone, which is so important. Then, creatively he is wonderful to work with because he’s so collaborative. He is always trying to find ‘the funny.’ I’m always learning from him. “

“I think I feel happiest when I’m in an atmosphere with a lot of laughter, and Adam can always make me laugh,” Barrymore continues. “It’s exciting to make a romantic love story with someone you truly think is the greatest person in the world. I don’t think chemistry is something you can fake - and if you have to, it’s a bummer. I think the audience can smell it and sense it.”

According to the film’s executive producer Michael Ewing, who is partnered with Segal in Callahan Films, “there truly is nobody better to work with than Adam. He’s a wonderful actor, a brilliant comedian and a terrific producer and businessman. He’s so smart about story and comedy. When you’re working day-to-day with somebody like that, you never know what might happen.”

Rob Schneider, a long-time collaborator of Sandler’s, plays Henry’s best friend Ula, a role specifically written for him. Ula has tested his theory about sharks several times - that they’re like dogs and will bite only if you tease them. Unhappily for Ula, the theory doesn’t hold water.

Schneider jumped at the chance to play Ula because, “Adam is the absolute best to work with,” he relates. “He creates a real playground, but in a good and structured way. Because we’ve been working together for something like 16 years, we have a shorthand. I’ll think of something, then he’ll think of something else and we’ll bounce it back and forth.”

As for working with Peter Segal, Schneider says, “Pete’s a director who’s prepared and has a good eye for comedy and visuals. I’ve learned a lot working with him.”

Sean Astin has the role of Lucy’s steroid-popping, body builder brother Doug. It’s a performance he’s taken to a degree no one anticipated. Says Segal, “Sean is such a good sport. We’ve really given it to him in this movie. He’s playing a small man with an inferiority complex who compensates by lifting weights more than he should. And he’s always trying to pick fights with Henry, who occasionally has to put him in his place.”

“Doug is always working out and doing crunches,” says Barrymore. “He picks up anything that comes to hand whether it’s a barbell or a fish and starts doing reps with it. Sean has given him a crazy muscle-man fetish that’s a great source of comedy and says so much about the character. You get hints of a character in the writing, but the most exciting prospect is giving them the specific quirks and traits that define the individual. Sean has taken Doug above and beyond the written word. He’s awesome and incredibly funny, and at the same time, very touching.”

Astin remarks that finding the key to the character of Doug came through his discussions with Segal. “Pete explained very clearly how he wanted the character to be, very sweet and loving toward his sister. At the same time he’s kind of dopey. All that contributed to my preparation.”

Changing his body to meet the demands of a film role is not a new concept for Astin. “I put on 10 to 15 pounds for Rudy. I took that off when I got married. Then I had to put on 35 to 40 pounds for The Lord of the Rings and then just as I was done taking it off, I got this part and Adam and Peter asked if I could put on some weight. I said to my wife, ‘here we go again’ and headed back to the gym.”

Blake Clark plays Lucy’s father Marlin Whitmore, a fisherman who had to give up his charter fishing business to care for his daughter. In addition to making his fourth appearance in a Sandler movie, Clark had previously shot a television pilot with Segal.

Clark met Sandler when they both appeared in Shakes the Clown, a film about stand-up comedy in which Clark wore a dress, a far cry from his role as Lucy’s tough-with-a-heart-of-gold father.

“This role is a bit more dramatic than some of the things Blake has done in the past,” allows Segal, “but there’s almost always a comedic moment that he knocks out of the park.”

It is a testament to the connection to the character of Marlin that when Wing visited the set and ran into Clark, "I instantly recognized him as if he had sprung from my imagination. I had no idea who he was or what his name was, I just said, 'Oh my God, you're Marlin, aren't you?' It was like talking to one of my characters."

His fellow actors also saw him as the perfect embodiment of the character Wing had created. “Blake not only challenges the tone of this film but makes it come alive in the most profound ways,” says Barrymore. “He has so much heart and soul and beauty coming from his heart and his eyes and his physical demeanor. Marlin is a beautiful person who is protective and loyal and fatherly and gruff, yet he’s a softie underneath. He struggles with his daughter because it’s exhausting to repeat the same day over and over. But there’s also comedy and truth in that, a primal parental thing that he brings to it that’s very real. If someone you loved was hurting, and you had to struggle to make them happier, that is an incredible mission. Marlin really makes it come true.”

In discussing the dynamics of his family in the film Clark says, “Doug and I have given up our lives to take care of Lucy. But even with all the precautions we take - like having dozens of newspapers made up from the day of the accident and having all the regulars at the Hukilau Café in on the ruse - from time to time there’ll be an incident that makes Lucy aware that it’s not October of the previous year. So, when we hear that there is a stranger trying to court her at the Hukilau, it is not good news. It is a complication that we definitely don’t want.

“Aside from the heartache of watching his daughter go through life with such a disabling condition, the worst part for Doug and Marlin," Clark adds, "is that they are locked into having the same thing for dinner every night. Every night is my birthday dinner and we have to sit down to watch the same Minnesota Viking’s football game, eat the same spaghetti and meatballs with pineapple upside-down cake for dessert.”

Allen Covert, who has co-starred in every Adam Sandler film except Billy Madison, plays ‘Ten Second Tom’ in the movie. “I’m actually the example of how things could be worse,” he laughs. “When they take Lucy to the Institute and explain everything to her again, the doctor says at one point, ‘well it could be worse, and when she asks, ‘How?’ he introduces her to me. My memory only lasts for 10 seconds so in the middle of conversations I’m constantly re-introducing myself to people. “

Among the many people who conspire to keep Lucy from having a “bad day” are the owners of the Hukilau Café owners, Sue and Nick.

“The character of Sue really grounds the movie,” explains Segal. “She’s Lucy’s protector at the diner and always on the look-out that no one takes advantage of her. We needed someone who could capture that kind of tough, yet maternal quality on screen. Amy Hill is an incredibly sweet woman and such a consummate performer that there really was no other choice.”

“When we were in pre-production and discussing character, Adam described Sue as the heart of the film in terms of representing the story’s sweet nature,” recounts Hill. “When I first read the script, I just thought this is so nice and it really does depict the Hawaiian 'aloha' spirit. I wanted to be sure that Sue embodied a sort of Hawaiian earth-mother quality. At the same time, there is something very warm and goofy about the story, which essentially is what Adam and Drew are like in real life. That’s their natural gift to the world of filmmaking. At the same time, Adam is also very hands-on, very supportive and takes the work very seriously, though he never takes himself seriously.”

For Sandler and Segal, it was essential that the casting have an air of authenticity about it, according to Ewing. “We wanted to cast people who were native Hawaiian as often as we could. A perfect example is Pomai Brown, who plays Nick. He is so full of life. The moment he walks on the set, you feel you’re in Hawaii.”

“When we were casting the movie,” adds Segal, “we received a tape from Pomai, who auditioned for the role in his kitchen. It was love at first sight.”

“Initially,” says Brown, who is well known in Hawaii for his expert ukulele playing, “Henry and Nick become friends over Henry’s love of peanut butter cups and Nick’s love for Spam. There is truth in that because Spam is a very popular food in Hawaii. It’s kind of a cultural thing. Nick jokes around with Henry, and behind Sue’s back, he’s actually encouraging him in regards to Lucy.”

Brown is grateful for all the input he received from Segal and Sandler in fleshing out the role of Nick. “Pete was the first person who coached me and gave me suggestions. And Adam was absolutely wonderful, because when I first came in I didn’t know anything about acting. He took the time to show me so many different ways to do and say things.”

Another key comedic role is Alexa, Henry’s highly sexed, if not terribly attractive assistant, who is played by Lusia Strus. “In real life, Lusia is extremely attractive,” says Segal, “but we’ve dressed her and done her hair in such a way that she’s really unattractive. The ‘before-and-after’ photos are remarkable. Basically, she looks like a Russian shotputter. She’s been a great sport about it.”

There is one non-SAG actor in the film - Jocko, a walrus who resides at Six Flags Marine World Park in Vallejo, California. According to Allen Covert, "In one of the drafts of the script Henry took care of a walrus, but I thought the relationship was a little too psychological. Why not just have this crazy walrus be a joke machine? Of course, we had no clue whether we could find a walrus to do this. But we talked to some people at Marine World Park in Vallejo and showed them the script. They said that with enough time, they could teach walruses to do tricks (Jocko is really one of a team of walruses used in the film). The entire time we were filming in Hawaii, they rehearsed the walruses. And they really were hilarious."

About The Production

Originally the story for 50 First Dates was set in Seattle. It was Sandler's idea to move the story to Hawaii. "Once Adam talked about moving the story to Hawaii," recounts Ewing "it just seemed like the very best possible place to do it for many different reasons. You don't see many movies shot there, so it was a great experience to film in a different locale. And it is such a spectacularly beautiful place for a romantic comedy."

The movie shot for six weeks in Hawaii, but the other six weeks were shot in and around Los Angeles. Like a huge circus coming into town one night and leaving at dusk the following day, the 50 First Dates production roamed Los Angeles County filming at the Cabrillo Beach Bath House, the American Cetacean Society, the Brigantine Boatworks in San Pedro, the Ocean Trails Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes and Leo Carillo State Beach in Malibu, as well as the Unocal Building in downtown Los Angeles.

In all, 50 First Dates filmed at more than a dozen locations on Oahu, beginning with Marlin's house in Waikane and ending on Henry's boat in Heeia Kea Harbor in Kaneohe. In between, the company criss-crossed the island for six weeks filming at such remote locations as the Kualoa Ranch in Kaaawa Valley, on dirt roads in Wahiawa and Waialua, the pineapple fields of the Dole Food Company, at Makapuu Lighthouse, at Sandy Beach - where only the bravest mount their boogie boards, on the Dillingham Ranch and on the beach made famous in From Here to Eternity. Other locations included Honolulu's Hawaii Film Studios and Island Seaplane Airport and, perhaps most importantly, Henry's workplace, the Sea Life Park in Waimanalo.

Although the scenes in Henry's office were filmed on stage in Los Angeles, most of the exteriors were shot at Sea Life Park. Situated on Oahu's east shore overlooking the Pacific, Sea Life Park is known not only as a refuge for sea mammals who have been injured but as a facility to educate the public on the importance of marine ecology. Among the areas used in scenes for the movie were the Sea Lion Pool and the Dolphin Cove, where the playful dolphins showed off for the cameras.

Upon returning from Hawaii, the company flew to Napa Valley for scenes in the Walrus Cove and Shark Tunnel at the Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, California, and then to Whittier, Alaska, for a final day of filming at sea in Prince William Sound.

There were three major sets built on stages at the Culver Studios and at Sony Studios. The first was the interior of the Hukilau Café, the interior of the Whitmore house and the interior of Henry's office. Comments producer Giarraputo, "We were lucky enough to be able to work with a lot of wonderful people, many of whom we had worked with before. It makes it easier when you know the team and can speak in shorthand."

Production designer Alan Au, who had collaborated with Segal and Happy Madison on Anger Management, returned to oversee the design and construction of the interior sets. "The biggest challenge for the art department," he relates, "was that we were filming exterior scenes at actual Hawaiian locations and needed to match the buildings on stage in Los Angeles.

"In my initial talks with Peter Segal, he was clear that he wanted to show the 'other side' of Oahu, not just the resort side," Au continues. "He wanted to show a more rural, countryside. When we began to scout, we found that most of what we wanted was on what's called the Windward side of the island, which has beautiful beaches and is very green and lush."

Adds art director Domenic Silvestri, "We researched traditional Hawaiian buildings rather than the modern structures you find in Waikiki. We discovered that because of the warm and humid climate, to capture the breezes, there is an incredible openness to Hawaiian buildings, which also fills them with sunlight. Instead of introducing a lot of our own palette, we tried to capture the colors of the natural Hawaiian materials. The colors of the wood and the corrugated roofing - that gets rusted - is what gives you oranges and reds. The thatching has its own warm earth-tones."

As for the Hukilau Café and the Whitmore House, Au says, "We found a beautiful spot on the Kualoa Ranch, which has a fish pond behind it. The environment is incredibly beautiful with mountains in the background and the blue sky and water. It was the perfect spot to build the Hukilau Café. Hawaiian buildings have great character to them. They're frequently built on raised foundations with lanais and tin roofs. It's a very rustic look, which is the essence of what we wanted to capture."

The Hukilau is where Henry and Lucy meet, and there are many pages of dialogue that take place in the same booth. "One of our problems was how to make that visually interesting," admits Au. "So we included part of the kitchen in the set with a counter where other regulars could be seated, and we put lots of Hawaiian artifacts on the walls. An even bigger challenge, though, was to exactly recreate the Hukilau on stage. The audience has to believe that what we're shooting inside is the same environment that's outside. So we hung a huge translight with the background of the Kualoa Ranch and fish pond, and we brought in cars that were parked outside the café. We colored dirt to resemble the red earth you find in Oahu and added lots of tropical greenery."

Another major location was the Whitmore's house, which was located in Waikane on a secluded dirt road off the main highway right next to a beautiful pier that runs hundreds of feet into the ocean with beautiful views on all sides. "We added Hawaiian architectural elements to the house including a lanai. We also replanted the whole backyard, grading and sodding it," says Au.

Again the Los Angeles interiors, which were shot earlier, had to match the Hawaiian exteriors. "The interior set we built on stage in Los Angeles was based on the rough geography of the house in Hawaii because it had to accommodate the film crew," says Silvestri. "Also, there were several extraneous structures on the existing property that we weren't able to use, so we did a fair amount of demolition in order to duplicate the architectural elements that we had created on stage."

Liberties were taken with the interior of Henry's office to make it more visually interesting, Au says. "Pete came up with a great idea for Henry's office at Sea Life Park. As long as we were going to build it anyway, he suggested it have a viewing window so you can see right into the dolphin tank. That enhanced the romantic mood for a crucial scene between Lucy and Henry."

As his director of photography, Segal chose Academy Award®-nominee Jack Green whose work on Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven and The Bridges of Madison County had left an indelible impression on the director. "Unforgiven, which captured the badlands, and The Bridges of Madison County, which depicted a very delicate love story, were the two iconic movies in terms of the look that I was going for in 50 First Dates," says Segal. "We knew we needed to have a savvy eye behind the camera to give it a soft, realistic look. Jack really balanced the scope of the Hawaiian locales with the intimacy and comedy of the story."

"Clint Eastwood made a number of comedies," adds Giarraputo," so we knew that Jack understood comedy. And we also knew that he could shoot the most beautiful, panoramic vistas. He knows how to make things look beautiful and make them look grand, and that was something Pete really wanted."

According to Green, "When I interviewed with Pete, he mentioned Unforgiven and Bridges as a template for the look he wanted to achieve. And shooting in Hawaii gives you so many opportunities for scope and naturalness. In addition, this story has such charm and sweetness. There is a very comedic feel about it, but it also deals with serious issues."

Green, who had never filmed in Hawaii before, confesses that the challenges of shooting on location were "killer in terms of continuity. As pretty as Oahu is, the clouds keep coming and going. It's bright one minute and shadowed and dark the next. When the background is bright, the foreground is dark. It keeps you on your toes because it changes so quickly. Also, I had many conversations with Alan Au regarding the sets because we had to blend the interiors with the exteriors. We had perfect control when we were on stage but absolutely zero control in Hawaii. It was in other hands," he laughs.

Green was in charge of shooting the giant translight (a photographic print that is lit from the back) used outside the Hukilau Café set in Los Angeles. "We had to build the set in Hawaii, then photograph the surroundings to make a plate in order to build this huge translight. Then we lit the translight so that it always felt like we were on location. Though it's a static image, we managed to make it look as if the water in the fish pond was rippling and clouds were rolling by."

In addition, because of the many scenes in the Hukilau Café "we had to find ways to make the audience believe that it was a completely different day. Peter, Alan and I worked very hard to choose different angles to photograph the Café that would help us hide the fact that we were using two different locations: one on stage in Los Angeles, one in Hawaii. We added skylights to the café to make it light and airy as it would be in Hawaii where many homes and businesses have courtyards that are open to the sky."

Costume designer Ellen Lutter is another regular member of the Happy Madison family who came on board for 50 First Dates. "Making a film is a completely collaborative affair," she comments. "Before I began to put together the costumes for this film, I had meetings with both Jack Green and Alan Au to ensure that we were all in synch. And because we do have quite a bit of visual effects work using a blue screen, you have to be careful about what colors you use. We had to keep the communication lines open, because it wasn't always decided in pre-production just how we were going to handle a certain gimmick or gag. You had to be aware that a scene might turn into something that required a special or visual effect, which reduces the numbers of colors you can use, so our palette was pretty tightly controlled."

Lutter also had several conversations with the film's director about the color scheme for the costumes. "Peter wanted the clothes to look 'islandy,' but also realistic and rich in color. When you come to Hawaii, in your head you think 'bright colors,'" says Lutter. "But the reality is that people wear fairly simple clothing with not particularly bright colors. We decided to pump up the colors a bit to achieve a rich, old-school Hawaiian feel, like in the 40s when they wore burnished jewel tones, maroons, mints and golden yellows. That's a far more attractive look than what is currently popular."

In addition, Lutter was attentive to the nature of the characters she was dressing. "Adam's character is a veterinarian, basically a scientist. But he's got a little bit of the 'Hawkeye Pierce' in him in that he's not a buttoned-down version of a scientist,' says Lutter. "We used some of the elements of what a scientist and explorer might wear, but we jazzed it up a bit with the surf influence - which is impossible to resist in Hawaii. So, in a weird way, I think this character is actually the closest to Adam himself. He's intense and he's smart, but he also likes to have fun. He can take things seriously and his work is very important to him, but he also wants to enjoy himself."

Costumes also play a significant role in Barrymore's creation of character, notes Lutter. "One of the biggest challenges Drew had on this movie was that she was coming directly from making Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, where every day she was in a different, frequently exotic, costume. But throughout most of 50 First Dates she thinks it's a certain day in October, so she wears the same exact costume for several weeks," observes Lutter.

"I'm normally very methodical about what I wear," declares Barrymore. "I choose my costumes for each scene very far in advance. But with this film, I got caught up in this cycle of Lucy's lack of knowledge about what day it was. I didn't want to be so prepared, because she wasn't prepared. With all my characters, I'm used to having a lot of change and growth and evolution. For example, I almost always wear flat shoes in the beginning of a film and I eventually grow to taller shoes because it changes your height, your demeanor. It changes your level of eye contact with people. I try to change my hair as the story moves along to show a slow growth. With Lucy, it was interesting because she is so stuck in a particular moment in time. I spend most of this film in white pants and a pink tee shirt with slippers - which is what the Hawaiians call flip-flops - on my feet."

As for Rob Schneider's character, Ula, Lutter explains that the actor is "wonderful to collaborate with. To begin with, he's wearing a prosthetic nose and a wig and he also has lots of tattoos. So it felt as though every time he was in a scene you had to top the previous one. What worked well was that his costumes are low key, sort of old and worn and skimpy. As skimpy as we could get it," she laughs. "He looks like one of those guys that has gained some weight but still thinks he looks fine in the lifeguard bathing suit he wore in high school."