Studios Team for Sandler's Deeds

October 8 -- These days a studio's gotta fight for its right to party … with Adam Sandler.

The eternally grimacing actor has not one, but two studios anxious to put the wheels on his next star vehicle. According to Variety, Sandler and his partner, screenwriter Tim Herlihy, have rivals Columbia and New Line negotiating a deal to co-produce Sandler's next comedy.

Apparently, Herlihy set out to pen a script honoring Frank Capra's 1936 film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town for Columbia. His final version ended up so far left of the original's rags-to-riches fable that it will be considered an entirely new movie rather than a remake.

The problem is that Sandler is obligated to do his next Shakespearean (ahem) maneuver for New Line. At the same time, he really wants to make pal Herlihy's Columbia script come to life. Now that Sandler is a certified player — he reportedly received $20 million for New Line's upcoming comedy Little Nicky — the studios seem willing to discuss a compromise.

Despite the fact that Sandler was given a Worst Actor Razzie Award in 1999 and was even dissed by fellow Saturday Night Live alum Bill Murray (who once told a magazine, "I would enjoy driving in L.A. with the windows open more than I would enjoy watching [Sandler's] The Waterboy"), he consistently snags some of the juiciest offers in Hollywood.

The goofball actor is currently considering an as-yet untitled laugher inked by Magnolia writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson and The Five Johnsons, a Nutty Professor II: The Klumps-style pic that would require Sandler to play (yikes) multiple parts.