When I was growing up, This is Spinal Tap [1984] was the ultimate comedy, and it was the kind of thing I wanted to do. But you get to a point with parody where you can’t go much further because ultimately it’s feeding off of somebody else’s creativity.
I love New York. I was sad, depressed and incredibly moved by our fellow countrymen and what they’ve done. I wanted to give people a chance to see something funny, have a distraction.
I had two projects that fell apart during preproduction. The first one was this movie that Judd Apatow and I had written about two guys following the Rolling Stones. It was going to be half concert film, half pseudo-documentary.
I think the most serious genre is the thing you’re going to get the most out of. If you’re trying to satirise a comedy, it’s hard to do that – it doesn’t really work as well. But I love the war movie genre and I’m a fan of all those movies that are part of what this movie is.
I’m Jewish, but my mom’s Catholic, so the guilt area is covered. I have the highest expectations, along with the lowest. I tried to put as much of myself as possible in Reality Bites, but in terms of my humor, I’m still trying to figure out what my sensibility is. It’s a process, really.
![Ben Stiller Quote - All those rumors about her being underweight are trash. She’s [Calista Flockhart] gorgeous.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/all-those-rumors-about-her-being-underweight-are-t.jpg)
![Ben Stiller Quote - All those rumors about her being underweight are trash. She’s [Calista Flockhart] gorgeous.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/grey-all-those-rumors-about-her-being-underwe.jpg)
![Ben Stiller Quote - All those rumors about her being underweight are trash. She’s [Calista Flockhart] gorgeous.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/blue-all-those-rumors-about-her-being-underwe.jpg)
![Ben Stiller Quote - All those rumors about her being underweight are trash. She’s [Calista Flockhart] gorgeous.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/red-all-those-rumors-about-her-being-underwe.jpg)
![Ben Stiller Quote - All those rumors about her being underweight are trash. She’s [Calista Flockhart] gorgeous.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/brown-all-those-rumors-about-her-being-underwe.jpg)
![Ben Stiller Quote - All those rumors about her being underweight are trash. She’s [Calista Flockhart] gorgeous.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/white-all-those-rumors-about-her-being-underwe.jpg)
![Ben Stiller Quote - When I was growing up, This is Spinal Tap [1984] was the ultimate comedy, and it was the kind of thing I wanted to do. But you get to a point with parody where you can’t go much further because ultimately it’s feeding off of somebody else’s creativity.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/when-i-was-growing-up-this-is-spinal-tap-1984-was-.jpg)
