Hustle: The huge change Netflix requested for Adam Sandler movie before filming started

Sports drama has topped the Netflix chart since its release

Hustle, the new basketball drama starring Adam Sandler, has proved a standout hit for Netflix since its debut earlier this month.

The film has been topping the streaming service’s Most Viewed rankings, and also broke a new record for Sandler on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

Hustle sees Sandler play Stanley Sugerman, a basketball scout who finds a hidden gem in Spanish unknown Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangomez), whom he takes back to the US.

However, the film’s original draft was vastly different in one key way.

Instead of chancing upon Cruz in Mallorca, the screenplay saw Sandler identify a prodigy in China.

However, this was changed at the behest of Netflix – seemingly because of the country’s lack of business activity in the country.

Speaking to The Dan Patrick Show last year, Sandler revealed: “It was written originally that I find a player in China and somehow, Netflix is not in China.

Juancho Hernangomez as Bo Cruz and Adam Sandler as Stanley Sugerman in 'Hustle’ (Scott Yamano/Netflix)

“So [Netflix] were like, ‘Would you guys please make it so we find somebody in Latin America or Europe?’ So the next thing you know, I’m in Mallorca.”

Sandler’s own production company, Happy Madison Productions, has produced several original films for Netflix, with a deal being inked back in 2020 to produce at least four more.

Hustle can be streamed on Netflix now.