While out doing press for the wacky remote control movie Click, Adam Sandler told Coming Soon that his next project will be a bit more serious. Make that a lot more serious.

Joining the ranks of United 93 and World Trade Center, Sandler will star in a 9/11 drama called Empty City. The premise? A man (Sandler) who lost his family in the attacks runs into an old college buddy (Don Cheadle), who helps him sort through his grief. Jada Pinkett Smith and Liv Tyler are also in the movie.

When prompted to talk about the story, Sandler said, "Don't know how to describe the movie, how to sum it up... I can't wait for Mike Binder, the man who wrote it, and hear him discuss it, because I don't know how to phrase this. But it's just about a man who's been through a terrible thing -- he lost his family in 9/11 -- and he has a hard time just living life and just being in the moment.

He added: "He doesn't want to know about life. He tries to pretend he never had a family. He can only deal with life by thinking about stuff from his past and growing up and he bumps into... Cheadle plays, we went to dental school together, and my character hasn't spoken to anybody in five years and Cheadle makes him feel comfortable. So it's about friendship, I guess. I'm sorry. I just don't know how to say."

This is a much heavier role than Sandler usually tackles, but if his performance in Punch Drunk Love is any indication, he'll pull it off just fine. Narrow-minded fans who only want to seem him do one role over and over, can always kick back and pop in a copy of Billy Madison and pretend this movie doesn't exist. Empty City is not based on a true story, and is currently in production.