Kathy Bates says she threw Waterboy script in the bin

Kathy Bates threw the script for The Waterboy in the bin because she didn’t know who Adam Sandler was.

Although the 78-year-old Oscar winner eventually went on to star in the 1998 movie as Mama Boucher, the overprotective mother of Sandler's Bobby Boucher, a socially awkward waterboy, she initially threw the script away after reading just 12 pages.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Kathy said: “I didn’t know who Adam Sandler was and I got a script. It was a football script, and I was like, ‘Oh, let’s give me a football.’ Twelve pages I read and I thought, ‘Oh man, I can’t do this thing. This is ridiculous’. So, I just tossed it in the waste basket, and my niece, who works with me, saw it and picked it out of the [trash]. She said, ‘What is this?’ So I said, ‘It’s a script that some kid Adam Sandler [wrote],’ and she went, ‘Adam Sandler! You don’t know the Hanukkah song?”

Kathy’s niece was referring to Sandler’s novelty track, The Chanukah Song, which he first performed during his time on Saturday Night Live in 1994.

She said: “So I took another look at it, and I thought, well, I’ll do this for Linda.”

And, Misery actress Kathy has no regrets about taking on the role in the sports comedy.

She said: “Turns out we had the most fun. He’s brilliant. He’s a genius. I dove in the deep end and just had a great time. Just screwed around. And I loved working with him. That’s when he first started really getting known and people really flocking to see him.”

Kathy currently stars on TV show Matlock and admitted she is grateful for the job as the industry has changed so much for actors in recent years.

She said: “Matlock is a miracle for me. I had one foot out the door. A film that I did not too long before just was such a heartbreaking disappointment. You know, at my age, I’m going to be 80 in two years, I just thought, this is not working out, it’s not giving me any happiness.

“Times are hard. A lot of people in this industry are out of work and so a big part of our joy is that we have a place to go every day. We have something wonderful to make.”