HOLLYWOOD -- Comedian Rob Schneider is not exactly a shy, sensitive guy.

Nor is he a wild man who'll sacrifice every shred of dignity to get a laugh.

Director Tom Brady, who has been Schneider's friend and collaborator since they met on the TV series Men Behaving Badly, says Schneider is "not a crazy person who vibrates off walls.

"That's the impression he gives from his days on Saturday Night Live and his movies Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, The Animal and The Hot Chick.

"I knew he was extremely talented from directing him on Men Behaving Badly, but until I worked with him on The Hot Chick, I didn't appreciate his true range of talent.

"He's a very complex guy who is a total control freak in the very best way."

The Hot Chick, which comes out on video and DVD on May 16, is a body-switching comedy in which Schneider wakes up one morning to find he is trapped in the body of a sexy-but mean-spirited teenage girl.

"When I first brought The Hot Chick to Rob, he was terrified. He could see the comic potential in the situation, but he was afraid it would require him to act too feminine."

Brady says he and Schneider reworked the screenplay so the actor could "go for the innocence of the situation."

KISSY-KISSY

Schneider is currently in Hawaii working with his long-time friend Adam Sandler on the comedy 50 First Kisses.

"After that, Rob will film the sequel to Deuce Bigalow, which has been his biggest success to date," says Brady. "Rob and I conceived the original film just after Men Behaving Badly went down in flames and we were both temporarily out of work."

Brady says he was unable to direct the first Deuce Bigalow "because I had just started a deal with Disney.

"We thought we'd work on this second one together, but now I'm developing a new film version of The Shaggy Dog which will go into production around the same time as Deuce 2."


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