'Spanglish' expanded Sandler's acting range

Although he shows more dramatic range than usual in "Spanglish," Adam Sandler isn't running away from comedies.

"I do love the movies I've done in the past," Sandler told reporters. "I work hard at my movies. But looking back at my career, when I end up having kids and I say 'Throw in that "Spanglish," ' I know I'm going to be very proud of it."

In "Spanglish," Sandler plays the husband of Tea Leoni, whose Mexican housekeeper (Paz Vega) finds herself in a contest of wills with the neurotically overbearing Leoni.

Sandler has no illusions on whether his work in the comic drama is Oscar-worthy, although Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt and Shirley MacLaine all received Academy Awards for movies directed by James L. Brooks, who also directed "Spanglish."

"I don't think about that," Sandler said. "I wasn't a kid growing up saying one day 'I'll get an Oscar and make a speech.' That wasn't on my mind. So what I do is the best work I can do."