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And I was like, “Yeah, anything. Twenty-four hours times five is 120 hours. Oh, great, I’ll fill 120 hours of my life with something.” So I did that and it was fun, and then I did Flirting with Disaster.

Ben Stiller

Sometimes I wondered whether I hadn’t let my career get confined to one direction, but lately I’ve decided to accept the fact that I have this opportunity to be successful doing comedies.
BEN STILLER

Direction Opportunity Successful
There’s an old saying in Hollywood: It’s not the length of your film, it’s how you use it.
BEN STILLER

Film Hollywood Use
It’s what I wanted to do with my life. Not necessarily just direct Jim Carrey movies, but to direct and act and write and create and along the way discover what it is that I’m about.
BEN STILLER

Wanted Way Writing
Whatever talent I had, I’m sure it helped that my parents were in the business and that I grew up around actors, comedians and directors.
BEN STILLER

Comedian Directors Parent
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

May People Wish
Maybe forced retirement isn’t necessary after all.
BEN STILLER

After Comedy Force Retirement
I think most politicians could take a dodgeball in the face.
BEN STILLER

Dodgeball Faces Thinking
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.
BEN STILLER

Desire Genius Overcoming
Fashion is so over the top.
BEN STILLER

Comedy Fashion Over Top
I recently watched that Lucie Arnaz-produced documentary [Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie, 1992] about her parents [Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz], and I saw so much of my own childhood there.
BEN STILLER

Childhood Home Parent
It was Mick Jagger’s idea.The other one was Simple Plan, based on a novel by Scott Smith. It’s a great book – really stark, not a comedy – about a guy who finds $4 million in a plane crash and decides to keep it.
BEN STILLER

Book Find Guy Idea Jagger Million Simple
I don’t think it’s ever easy to be funny. I find it easy to amuse myself with a certain sort of cynical dark humor that tends toward the meaner side, like my character in Happy Gilmore. Those kinds of characters come easily to me.
BEN STILLER

Character Dark Thinking
I grew up wanting to make movies, and along the way I suddenly found that I had a career doing comedy.
BEN STILLER

Career Movie Way
Very quickly after meeting Dustin, the whole image I had of him was shattered.
BEN STILLER

Comedy Meeting Shattered
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.
BEN STILLER

Giving Thinking Trying
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

Ideas Mom Reality

And I was like, “Yeah, anything. Twenty-four hours times five is 120 hours. Oh, great, I’ll fill 120 hours of my life with something.” So I did that and it was fun, and then I did Flirting with Disaster.

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And I was like, “Yeah, anything. Twenty-four hours times five is 120 hours. Oh, great, I’ll fill 120 hours of my life with something.” So I did that and it was fun, and then I did Flirting with Disaster.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Ben Stiller Quotes