By Fred Topel | Image property of 20th Century Fox.
Night at the Museum
Ben Stiller is not usually the guy you think of for big special effects movies. Big slapstick gross-out comedies, yes, but fantasy filled museum creatures coming to life, no. Night at the Museum was a change of pace for him that challenged his comedic instincts.
Interview: Ben Stiller Talks Night at the Museum
“The challenging thing in the movie was reacting to things that weren’t there,” said Stiller. “I know that I’m better as an actor when I’m working with a good actor. I think anytime you’re working with a better actor, it makes you a better actor. So the hard thing for me was working with the dinosaur or some of those animals that weren’t there because you really generate so much and you have to really figure out a way to make it real, but also you’re totally creating it. It’s easy when you have you’re off camera person like Shawn who would be giving me the off camera dinosaur or a monkey or a lion and doing it with all of his heart and soul and enjoying it. But, the tough thing was when there was a shot on screen with you and they can’t put anything there. So I found that hard. I think there are a lot of other actors who are better suited to that kind of thing and are better at it and so I found that part hard.”
Levy’s substitute acting sounds like a comedy in itself. “He really took it on. He really got the whole thing. It was weird. Then he was like you have to stay in character in between takes and then he’d start running down the hall and the animators were like video taping him to get the motion right. Also as the monkey he really got monkey like. It made a huge difference for me. It made a huge difference to have somebody to react to for sure.”
Once Stiller had other actors to work with, his more natural instincts came out. “I think you never want to have to go into the scene having to improvise. You want to make sure its working on the page. But, I do like to have the ability to like try stuff just in the moment to give it some sort of spontaneity. Especially when you feel there is an area you can go to. But, with Robin, he kept on doing this hilarious improv where he would do the Teddy Roosevelt in old newsreel footage where it would just be like the fast motion and his voice coming in and out and it was so brilliant. It was like a perfect Robin Williams bit, but we couldn’t figure out a way to put it in the movie.”
Night at the Museum’s ensemble cast also includes Stiller regular Owen Wilson, and British thesps Steeve Coogan and Ricky Gervais. “Ricky Gervais is so fun to work with in that way because he cracks up so easily. So, he’d crack me up, I’d crack him up. The crew was bored, but we were cracking each other up. After like 12 takes they’d be like, ‘Come on.’ But it was really fun to work with him in that way, but Owen and I didn’t really get a chance to really work together too much, because they shot all that stuff after we were finished.”
Night at the Museum opens to theatres on December 22nd.
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