After the success of Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson stated that he was determined to make his next film ninety minutes long, and stated that he wanted to cast Adam Sandler in this film.[3] After establishing his style with his previous films, he wanted to challenge himself within the parameters of a ninety-minute-long romantic comedy.[4] Anderson is a fan of Sandler's comedies, and said his love for his films became "obsession-level" after seeing and enjoying Sandler's 1999 film Big Daddy.[5][6] He was determined to make a film with Sandler as a lead, saying, "He's always just made me laugh, he gets me, I wanted a piece of him."[4] He specifically wrote Punch-Drunk Love with Sandler and Emily Watson in mind. Anderson had to convince producer JoAnne Sellar, who was "befuddled" with his desire to cast Sandler, that he was the right person for the job.[7] Anderson took inspiration for Barry Egan's characterization from watching the Saturday Night Live: The Best of Adam Sandler compilation DVD, primarily with the skit "The Denise Show,"[8][6] saying,
"I saw this Best of Adam Sandler DVD from Saturday Night Live, and an amazing thing happened. There's this moment when he's doing this talk show called "The Denise Show," about his ex-girlfriend who's left him, and his father calls up and says, 'What are you doing; you're embarrassing the family.' And Adam goes into this fit of rage, screaming at his father, and honest to God I saw this moment where it appears as if the whites of his eyes turn black and they roll back in his head. It was like, he just lost his mind. I would play it back, over and over again, and you can see him kinda snap back to reality. The audience is laughing and it's almost like he finally started to hear them laughing a few seconds later."[6]
Anderson described the film as an "art-house Adam Sandler film," while film critic Roger Ebert felt Anderson "deconstructed the Adam Sandler movies and put them back together again in a new way at a different level."[6] In writing the elements of the Healthy Choice frequent-flier miles sub-plot line, Anderson was inspired by the real-life story of David Phillips, who successfully amassed over a million frequent flier miles from buying $3,000 worth of Healthy Choice's pudding. Anderson received approval from Phillips and Healthy Choice to adapt Phillips' story into the film.[9] A major source of inspiration for Punch-Drunk Love came from the films of Jacques Tati, while Barry's blue suit was inspired by musicals, such as The Band Wagon (1953) and Singin' in the Rain (1952).[10]
Filming and editing took place over a year and a half due to several reasons, such as Anderson scrapping the first two weeks of shooting over fears that he was "making the same movie" as his previous filmography, as well as the threat of Hollywood strikes in 2001, that led to Sandler and Watson filming other projects in between filming Punch-Drunk Love. Anderson declined more funding from Revolution Studios, as he was determined to keep the film under $30 million in terms of budget.[4]
Casting
Sandler shared phone numbers with Tom Cruise, when he visited Saturday Night Live during the taping of an episode hosted by Cruise's then-wife Nicole Kidman. While filming Magnolia, Anderson contacted Sandler through a phone call with Cruise and expressed his intention to write a film for him, and despite being unfamiliar with Anderson, Sandler gave his blessing. Sandler was intimidated upon first viewing Magnolia, leading him to be "fucking terrified" and doubt his ability to carry Anderson's next film. Anderson helped alleviate Sandler's fears upon personally delivering the script.[11] Sandler's casting was officially announced in November 2000; the unconventional pairing shocked reporters as Anderson was a filmmaker on the rise that wrote and directed critically acclaimed films, while Sandler was known for negatively-reviewed mainstream comedies.[8][12] Aside from the primary named cast, all on-screen actors are non-professionals, which Anderson found more interesting and less complicated.[4]
