We all know Ben Stiller as one of the lead members of a comedic acting brotherhood known as The Frat Pack and is also an Emmy-winning actor, film producer and director. In his latest movie Ben plays a guy called Eddie, who, after years of bachelorhood and ample pressure from his father, Doc, and best friend Mac, starts to wonder if he is being too picky about the women he meets. So when a chance encounter with an alluring blonde named Lila leads to a sweet romance, Eddie impulsively proposes. But right after the wedding, as the newlyweds get to know each other on the drive down the California coast, Eddie begins to realize he's made a horrible mistake. Soon after reaching their exotic Mexican hideaway, he falls for the down-to-earth Miranda, who has no clue he's on his honeymoon. Now Eddie has to find a way to extricate himself from his days-old marriage without losing the girl of his dreams. We grabbed a quick Q&A with Ben…
1. On his character ‘Eddie’…
‘I play this guy Eddie who owns a sporting goods store. Has never gotten married, is 40 years old and is thinking about it and meets this girl who seems perfect so decides to go with her. Turns out she is a nightmare, they’re wrong for each other, and on the honeymoon I meet the girl who I should’ve married.’
2. On the story…
‘At first she seems like the perfect girl. She is beautiful, she’s sweet, fun, she seems to like me a lot. She just seems like the perfect girl. And I go through the process of trying to figure out what could be wrong with her, then once we tie the knot and start on this honeymoon down to kabo, we drive down, during the drive it comes apart a little bit. We start to see how she sings along to music. It’s a little annoying. A lot annoying. And then little bits and pieces start to come together and my guy realises that she’s the totally wrong person. A big mistake.’
3. On working with the Farrelly Brothers…
‘We stayed in touch over the years and had talked about other projects but this one seemed like the movie to do together. They bring such a specific tone to what they do and when there was a chance for them to do an R rated comedy again, and its been a little while for them, and I haven’t done one since we worked together, so its fun to be able to jump back into that world.’
4. On working with his dad, Jerry Stiller…
‘It was fun to work with my dad just because he is so funny you don’t have to worry about really being funny in a scene because his just going to be the funniest person, no matter what. He’s just hilarious, his so unique and he does his thing. And since he is my father you don’t really have to act because there’s already that relationship there whether you want it or not. When you’re acting with a parent all the history is there. And that was great. It really helped our relationship as father and son.’
5. On the Farrelly Brothers…
‘I think that part of the whole thing was keeping it lively and fun. And Peter and Bobby really hear how it sounds in their heads and the rhythm of it and let everybody bring their own life to it and it’s like a party a lot of the time, keeping everyones spirits up. I think that they look at movies as a place where its somewhere you can go and have fu. They are very clear about what they want the experience to be and they are great together in the editing room too because they use music really well and when you work with a director you want to work with someone who really knows what they want, and that’s what they definitely do.’
6. On Malin Akerman as ‘Lila’…
‘Malin Akerman is great, she’s hilarious. I mean she really had an incredible part in this movie where she had to do a lot of crazy things from really having a lack off vanity and being able to feel ok about really putting herself out there, and she has sunburn throughout most of the movie. She has to bare parts of her body. She’s just a great sport and she is really funny in the movie. It demanded total commitment.’
7. On Carlos Mencia as ‘Uncle Tito’…
‘Carlos Mencia is a hilarious stand-up comedian. His pretty funny. He has this incredible wig and moustache in this movie. When he puts it on I feel like his another person. He shows up to the set as Carlos Mencia, and when he comes out to do the scene Uncle Titos here.’
8. On Michelle Monaghan as ‘Miranda’…
‘She’s just got an incredible personality. She is just fun and sweet and genuinely like that and in the movie that’s what her character is. I have to fall in love with her very quickly and the audience has to believe that I would go for her and that she’s the right person in a very few scenes. So really had to be someone who emanates that and she just has that naturally. She’s just a naturally attractive, great, fun person.’
The Heartbreak Kid is at cinemas everywhere from 5th October (cert: TBC).
