Ben Stiller: Hollywood Jack of All Trades

Ben Stiller, son of comic actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, is covering all the Hollywood bases. Married to Brady Bunch actress Christine Taylor, Ben has a new baby that is taking up most of his time at present. He directed the popular film Reality Bites, which starred Wynona Rider and recently directed, wrote and starred as a male model in Zoolander. Stiller can play jerks or nice guys with equal ability and we loved him in There's Something About Mary and Meet the Parents.

Usually noted for his comedic roles, Ben played heavy drama as a heroin addict in Permanent Midnight. In the quirky comedy The Royal Tenenbaums, Ben co-stars as the justifiably angry son of Gene Hackman. "It was great to work with Gene Hackman. I'm such a fan. Any scene with him was fun and interesting. I didn't know what to expect. He's such a strong presence. He's very kind, quiet and shy. Working with somebody that good is very educational."

Ben's parents are well known comic actors. His dad Jerry was in Zoolander and was recently seen in On the Line with Lance Bass. Tenenbaums deals with a dysfunctional family. We asked Ben about his relationship with his dad and what it's like being the son of famous parents. "I think every father/son relationship has certain dynamics that are inherent. Some are more on the surface than others but it's a very complicated relationship. For my character (Chas) I was drawing on a lot of stuff that I didn't analyze. My relationship with my dad is definitely very complicated. You have to connect with what's inside. The fact that people have a preconceived notion of who your parents are and what they're like is weird. I don't know what your parents are like but you think you know mine. You just take that into account in your life."

Ben was anxious to work with quirky Tenenbaum director Wes Anderson. "Wes asked me to do the film and I would have done any part because I'm a big fan of his. I think his movies (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore) are incredible so I was really happy to be a part of it. I'm always watching the way he works. As an actor, you learn from every director you work with. Someone like this, with such a unique style, I'm always watching and learning. He doesn't really rehearse or direct the actors that much. He's specific about casting. When he casts someone, he's trusting about what they're gonna bring to it. He'll give you a few guidelines but not too much."

Wes had 50 or 60 days to shoot the film. "He doesn't do a lot of different angles. The editor doesn't have that many choices. He's making the choices as he's shooting it. He must be very confident in his choices. Me, as a director, I like to have choices and shoot different angles and be able to say well, if this isn't working I could try this angle or that take. There are like 250 little scenes in this movie. That took the 60 days. Montage shots and stuff."

Ben's Chas Tenenbaum character is angry at his dad for ruining him in business and a lot of other early transgressions. We sensed a little touch of his Mystery Men character "Mr. Furious." "Yeah, definitely. He's an angry character. I didn't think about it that way when I was doing it but I was tapping into it. Chas has more real anger than that character. Mr. Furious is more frustrated than anything else."

The character's anger is finally quiet in one small but very impressive scene. We complimented Ben on his work. "Thank you. I was aware of that scene the whole movie. I felt like that was the scene where the character is letting go of a lot of things. It was something I thought was key to this character making a change there. We shot it later in the film. I was happy when I had it done. The scene that effects me the most is at the end, Chas is with his dad and that's a resolution for those two characters."

Ben has young sons in the film and he and the boys spend much of the time decked out in matching red jogging suits and sporting dorky curly hair. "Yeah...there were a couple of those suits. Every day you're wearing the same thing. I was wearing a wig. The kids had their hair curled every day to get that curly look."

There is a hilarious scene in Tenenbaums in which all heck breaks loose in the house. Ben runs through the place and knocks over a priest who has a nasty fall.

"That was fun. The toughest thing was that the stuntman was doing the fall and it looked brutal. I was very concerned that he was okay. He had pads on but he fell down the stairs. Those things make me concerned. There's no real science to it. He just threw himself down the stairs. The movie doesn't have too many big physical things going on so that was fun to shoot. It just took a day or two."

Ben has been a successful director. We wanted to know his plans in that area. "I want to keep trying different things. I like all different kinds of movies so I'd like to be able to eventually direct different genres. As an actor I don't have a grand plan. I'll do whatever's interesting and, hopefully, I can keep trying different things. I'm not sure what's next. What Makes Sammy Run? might be the next thing I direct. I have a script that I wrote with Jerry Stahl. We're budgeting it. Within a year I should be doing it."

The next acting gig should be the film Duplex. "It's about a couple, myself and Drew Barrymore, who buy a brownstone in Brooklyn. It's their first home and there's an old lady who lives on the top floor. She's the tenant from hell, driving them crazy. It's a black comedy where they realize they have to get rid of this woman."

What about working with his actress wife Christine? "With the baby, the family is the main focus right now."

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Interviewer and writer Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.