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.
BEN STILLERMaybe forced retirement isn’t necessary after all.
More Ben Stiller Quotes
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A eugoogoolizer…one who speaks at funerals…Or did you think I was too stupid to know what a eugoogooly was?
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I think most politicians could take a dodgeball in the face.
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It was a mixed blessing to have famous parents. It was tough to go to auditions and be bad, since I couldn’t be anonymous.
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I was staying on [writer/director/actor] Eric Schaeffer’s couch in New York, and he said, “I’ve got this movie [If Lucy Fell]. Can you do five days on it?”
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If you look at my eyes when I’m dancing, you’ll see that glazed look.
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I enjoy the work I do in comedies. It’s a valid test of your creative abilities.
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I don’t even want to think of myself as an actor because it’s such an insecure place to go.
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I grew up wanting to make movies, and along the way I suddenly found that I had a career doing comedy.
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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.
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Jim Carrey, a comic genius, has a harder time overcoming the public’s desire for him to be funny simply because he’s so good at it.
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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.
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I was a bad student. I liked archaeology actually, I was interested in maybe becoming an archaeologist but I was such a bad student and had such bad grades that I wasn’t going to get into any really good college so I fell back on acting.
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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 try stuff just in the moment, to give it some sort of spontaneity.
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When you have kids you want to be able to go to movies and take the family too, and actually all enjoy it together. I don’t think there are that many great, live action family movies that everybody can enjoy.
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I’m just not a naturally cheery person. I’m naturally moody. I know that from people who spend a lot of time with me. People who spend a lot of time with me may not wish to spend a lot more time with me.
BEN STILLER