Happy Gilmore 2 begins with a tragedy caused by Happy himself, and the director had a hard time wrapping his head around it.
Kyle Newacheck, director of Happy Gilmore 2, admitted that he was surprised to learn that Julie Bowen’s character in the Adam Sandler-led sequel film gets killed off in the first few minutes.
Bowen played Virginia Venit, who marries Happy and welcomes five kids with him. In the first few minutes of the film, she dies when her husband hits a golf ball and it hits her in the head.
“I did not see that coming,” Newacheck told People. “I would never have projected that that was going to be the inciting incident for this movie at the start of it.”
However, Kyle loved the nuance about he story line.
He added, “I was blown away at the choice and I loved it. Absolutely loved it.”
“It’s like the first one… His father died from a puck to the face,” he recalled of the 1996 original film. “It’s still within the DNA of the universe, so… It just made total sense, but I never ever would’ve guessed it.”
Julie also shared her own reaction to finding out her fate in the film. She recalled being on an island with no wifi at the time when she read the script.
“And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m dead. And he kills me’,” she said with a laugh. “Then I just started laughing. I just started laughing and laughing and Adam was trying to get through to me. I was on island with no wifi and barely any cell, and we finally connected.”
Happy Gilmore 2 is now streaming on Netflix.