During the late ‘90s and throughout the 2000s, Ben Stiller dominated the big screen with his comedy flair. While his best movies like Zoolander and Dodgeball show the American actor completely transforming himself into outlandish characters, the self-deprecating humor shown in Meet the Parents and There’s Something About Mary can make Stiller relatable to audiences. After seven years since his last starring role, the Emmy Award winner is returning to acting for his new movie Nutcrackers with an interesting explanation for the hiatus.
It’s been a long time since Ben Stiller has made us laugh or given us an emotional performance on the big screen. His last starring role was brawling with Adam Sandler in Netflix’s The Meyerowitz Stories as two adult siblings reuniting to celebrate their father’s work in New York City. After that were cameo self roles in films like the black comedy film Greed, the documentary Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics, and the rom-com Bros. In his first starring role in seven years, Stiller tells Variety why he took so much time away from acting:
I never thought I’d take this much time away from acting. It wasn’t intentional; it was just how things evolved.
Ben Stiller is referring to his transition from great actor to great director. While he made his directorial debut in the ‘90s rom-com drama Reality Bites, Stiller made more of a focus on working behind the camera for the 2018 miniseries Escape at Dannemora and then one of the best Apple TV+ shows, Severance. The workplace sci-fi series led to the Cable Guy actor receiving nominations for his directing at the Emmys, the Directors Guild of America, and the Hollywood Critics Association.
But production for season two of Severance was stalled because of the 2023 WGA Writers Strike. This unexpected turn of events led to Ben Stiller’s schedule being wide open to take on a new starring role:
This movie happened in a zone where it was literally the only time I could have made it. A few months later, and I couldn’t have done it.
It’s almost like it was meant to be. Set to premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Nutcrackers has Ben Stiller play a narcissistic workaholic real estate developer left in charge of raising his four nephews after their parents die. Directed by The Exorcist: Believer’s David Gordon Green, the indie comedy-drama will take place on location of an Ohio farm where the Night at the Museum actor will have a wide variety of farm animals to share the screen with.
The most important thing Ben Stiller prioritized when making Nutcrackers was to ensure the young Janson Brothers, who’ve never been on a film set, were kept in check as his character has to be a “jerk” to them in the movie. Emphasizing having a good relationship with the four young actors is incredibly endearing and shows the director in the Tropic Thunder actor still hasn’t escaped him.
After the past seven years working as a director, Ben Stiller decided to return to the big screen starring in Nutcrackers after production for Severance’s second season was on hold. While he had no idea it was that long ago that he starred in a movie, hopefully that means the Greenberg actor will have more acting projects lined up in the future. While Nutcrackers will have its TIFF premiere on September 5th, keep looking at our 2024 movie releases so you’ll know when it eventually hits theaters.