By Fred Topel | Image property of 20th Century Fox.
Dick Van Dyke in Night at the Museum
Dick Van Dyke has been in some of the classic family
movies of all time, including Mary Poppins and Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang. If Night
at the Museum does well, it could join the list. While he was
considered a legend on the set, he was just happy to be invited to come
play.
Interview: Dick Van Dyke On Night at the Museum
“Well, it was a coup,” he said. “There
was so much talent. I’ve been a fan of Ben’s for so long. Some
of the best thing in my life have been when somebody said, ‘Why don’t
we get him to do it?’ These two guys [Stiller and director Shawn Levy]
thought of me and called me and I said, ‘I gotta be in this movie.’
It’s a classic family movie. It’s right down my alley, except
for the fact I get to play a bad guy, which I love.”
Van Dyke plays a museum security guard who wants to escape with the secret
to eternal youth that brings the museum’s creatures to life. “But,
he’s not a really bad guy. The way I rationalize it is what he’s
trying to steal, anybody would, which is eternal life and eternal youth
and anybody would steal for that. And he turns out to be an okay guy, but
I get to sneer and leer at Ben a lot and I got a kick out of that. And I
get to beat him up too.”
Still looking spry and mobile at 71, it doesn’t
look like Van Dyke needs any magic. “I think I picked the correct
ancestors for one thing. I’ve always kept singing and dancing. I do
a lot of exercise, swim and work out with the resistance and stuff. When
you get to my age you have to or you’ll freeze up like the tin woodsman.
Just keep moving is the idea and don’t eat too much.”
Looking back on his own classic films, Van Dyke knows what made them special.
“Well, I think it was Walt Disney who just had the touch, the child
in him or something. He knew how to entertain children and how to get through
to them. I’ve often thought wouldn’t it be like a man in a candy
store if they had computer graphics back then? Walt would have gone crazy
with that.”
Add to Heffee!
