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The most famous comedian in Spain will be Adam Sandler’s lover

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Now there’s a headline we’ve always wanted to write. Santiago Segura, who’s known to fans of international comedy through the Spanish-language ‘Torrente’ films, will play opposite Adam Sandler in Sandler’s next film, ‘Jack and Jill,’ two people familiar with the project said Tuesday.

The comedy, which has just begun shooting, has Sandler playing both parts in the new spin on the classic nursery rhyme. He’s both family man Jack and will cross-dress as Jill, Jack’s annoying sister, who comes for a visit and won’t leave. Segura will play Jill’s beau.

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The Jose Luis Torrente character that Segura made famous (in Spain) is an unsavory, racist cop who angrily patrols his neighborhood even after he’s been let go from the force. (You can see a subtitled clip below, though it’s not the most representative.) The first three Torrente films have been huge hits in Spain, and a fourth is on the way. There’s also an English-language remake that Sacha Baron Cohen is attached to. Segura has had bit parts in ‘Hellboy’ and a few other English-language movies, but this would be by far his biggest comedy role.

‘Jack and Jill’ already has one of the more unusual casts out there -- Regis Philbin and Shaquille O’Neal have bit parts, among others. A man known for playing an angry, mustachioed Spanish policeman couldn’t make things that much weirder.

— Steven Zeitchik

twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

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