Adam Sandler, 'Uncut Gems' directors reveal Kevin Garnett is an 'incredible' actor

NEW YORK — Kevin Garnett’s Hall of Fame-level intensity is still so much a part of him, even though he’s in the middle of telling a story from his playing days and not staring down a defender on an NBA court.

He’s recounting a practice he had with former Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers in which the now-Los Angeles Clippers bench boss turned Garnett into a decoy who was asked to act like he was going to get the ball out of a timeout. Garnett wasn’t doing it exactly the way his persnickety coach wanted it and the practice of that play seemed endless.

Garnett imitates Rivers screaming at him, banging a table at which sits his Uncut Gems co-star Adam Sandler, the film’s co-directors Benny and Josh Safdie, and a mix of local and national reporters who have come to interview them at a midtown Manhattan hotel.

And, as always, he owns the room.

“I WANT YOU TO CLAP MORE THAN THAT!” he shouts, not quite nailing Rivers’ hoarse baritone, not that it matters.

It’s both that story and the way Garnett tells it that explains why he shines in the film, the gritty, realistic-but-fictional tale of jeweler Howard Ratner (Sandler), who spends the movie in way over his head because of his sports betting habit. The ex-NBA star plays himself in 2012, when he discovers a fictional uncut opal from Ethiopia provided to him by Ratner is actually the good-luck charm giving him the power to beat the Philadelphia 76ers in the playoffs. But Ratner needs it back to pay off his debts, which causes some friction between the two.

Benny Safdie actually worked with Rivers to get a voiceover for the film for a fictional locker room scene. He said he asked the now-Clippers bench boss if he knew Garnett was a talented actor.

“Of course I did,” Safdie remembers hearing. “I had a play designed that rested on his acting abilities. Coming out of the huddle he was supposed to act really cocky.”

That’s when Garnett the storyteller took over, becoming a one-man show.

The funny thing is, Garnett wasn’t the Safdies first choice for the role.

In 2010, Benny Safdie recalled, former Knick Amar’e Stoudemire was their preferred choice, partially because the movie starts with an Ethiopian Jewish tribe finding the opal, and they could see how that would connect with the man who converted to Judaism.

But the Safdies’ agents suggested they shoot for an even bigger name: Kobe Bryant. When they were informed the Los Angeles Lakers legend was more interested in directing, they moved on to Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid.

“Him being an African player from Cameroon,” Safdie says, “the ideas of reclamation were powerful and then we couldn’t shoot in the season.”

Initially, the lifelong diehard New York Knicks fans — and that might be an understatement, Benny said he once called out franchise legend John Starks on the street — hated the idea of casting a player they hated.

But once they met Garnett, they realized he was perfect.

“It was the moment I realized my Knicks fandom is actually a sickness,” Benny says. “It eclipsed my film intelligence so I actually wasn’t able to realize that he’s an incredible performer and goes out every night in front of 20,000 people and gets the audience to hate him. That’s what drives him.”

“The second we talked with him,” he adds, “he was the one guy we didn’t want to get off the phone with, and then we met up with him. He’s an incredible storyteller.”

It also helped that Garnett fit the narrative the Safdies were looking for — Josh explains they figured out they could base the entire plot of the movie around Garnett’s ups and downs in the 2012 Eastern Semifinals, giving the movie a high level of intensity that it might not have if it was about a fictional NBA player.

And is it ever intense. Garnett is at the center of some of the less heart-pounding scenes, but it’s hard to take your eyes off of him as he negotiates with Sandler and shows his desperation when he tries to hang on to the opal jewel at the center of the film’s title. In one memorable scene, you can see the wheels turning in Ratner’s head as he realizes he can let Garnett have the opal, but that he can then use that to his advantage at a sportsbook.

Garnett felt comfortable in his role, pointing out that his daily work before he went to set was the same as what he put in before NBA games watching film.

“Acting is preparation, just like anything else,” he says. “I didn’t want to fail them. They took a risk on me being in there, playing this part … at least you can come in and be professional.”

“Someone taught me (when I did) television: ‘Know where you’re going when you’re coming out of the driveway,'” he adds.

Benny Safdie praises Garnett for his ability to memorize lines, stay with scenes and improvise. And Sandler, who’s getting some Oscar buzz for his dark turn as Ratner, gave him the highest praise of all.

“You were incredible,” he says to his co-star. “He was so focused and on every moment.”