Adam Sandler honors Noah Baumbach at Gotham Awards

Once a hardcore indie affair, NYC’s Gotham Awards have become the unofficial first stop on the road to the Oscars, bringing out stars like Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence and Julia Roberts on Monday night.

Adam Sandler and Emily Mortimer — who presented a director tribute to Noah Baumbach for his new film, “Jay Kelly” — poked fun at the 35-year-old event recognizing some bigger-budget titles.

“I remember when the Gotham Awards were for low-budget movies! For ‘The Squid and the Whale,’ they paid Jeff Daniels in potato skins!” Sandler said, adding another recent development at the event, “better f—ing desserts.”

Baumbach’s new Netflix film stars Sandler and Mortimer, plus George Clooney, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson and Riley Keough.

Baumbach has come a long way, too.

He recalled from the stage, “I was remembering in 1995 when my first movie, ‘Kicking and Screaming,’ was given a slapdash release by a company called Trimark . . . I was traveling down to Washington, DC, for a Q&A at the Key Cinema. I was there early, and I stood outside the theater with the guy who ran the club, and as the movie finished, a woman came out and said to the man, ‘This has got to be the worst movie you have ever shown us. It was just awful.’ And she looked at me and said, ‘Don’t you agree?’ ” Baumbach told the woman with a shrug, “I thought it was OK,” he recalled.

The director also detailed advice he’s received from some late film icons.

“I think of Peter Bogdanovich,” said Baumbach in his speech, detailing how “The Last Picture Show” director shared some sage wisdom that led to Jeff Daniels starring in Baumbach’s 2005 film, “The Squid and the Whale.”

Baumbach recalled telling Bogdanovich at the time, “Jeff Daniels is a wonderful actor and he wants to play the part, and actually he’s the only person who wants to play the part. But I have a hard time picturing him as a Jewish intellectual from Brooklyn. And Peter said, ‘Just do what Howard [Hawks] did with Cary [Grant] in ‘Bringing Up Baby’ — put glasses on him. That’s what I did with Ryan [O’Neal] on ‘What’s Up, Doc?’ I put glasses on him. That’s all you have to do.’

“I didn’t put glasses on Jeff,” Baumbach mused, “but I gave him a beard. It felt more Jewish.

He also recalled how legendary director Mike Nichols gave him advice on film — and much more — including, “Never check your parka at a ratf–k.”