Sandler’s star power and belief in what James was cooking up managed to keep the project going without further delay. Steve Carr (“Daddy Day Care”) was tapped to fill the director’s chair, but it was truly James who shepherded the project all along the way as its star, co-writer, and producer. And, while the concept may have seemed silly and low-brow, it would be difficult for anyone to say that the man didn’t put in the work.
James did ride-alongs with actual mall cops during preparation, which is where he discovered that a lot of the mall cops use Segways. He decided Paul Blart would ride one as well. And, per James, a lot of them have mustaches. So he grew a healthy mustache rather than have a fake one put on in the makeup chair. There is an element of authenticity at play in the film, despite its inherent silliness. Even background actors were more authentic than viewers may realize, as James revealed in a 2009 interview with The NYC Movie Guru.
“[Filming] was tricky for everybody because they didn’t shut [the mall] down during the day. We just shut down sections of it at a time. We’d use a lot of people in the movie that were actually just shopping that day.”
So, in January of 2009, a year and a half after his sitcom went off the air after a nine-season run, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” raced into theaters on a very crowded weekend, giving Kevin James the chance to shine as the star of his very own movie. No Adam Sandler, no Will Smith? No problem, it turned out.