Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke Interview, Night at the Museum

We had a chance to catchup with the cast of Night at The Museum, namely Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke and Shawn Levy. At the heart of NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM is an imagination-tickling dream that anyone who’s ever wandered through a museum in wide-eyed awe has secretly harbored: that outrageous fantasy in which the stuffed beasts and molded statues of the ancient past suddenly burst their seams and bust out of their exhibits to come fully to life in the here and now.

"I think most of us have had that experience where you walk by a statue in a museum and you could swear that you saw its eyes follow you,” says the film’s director Shawn Levy. "It’s a little spooky and it’s also very cool to imagine what would really happen if that came true – and, as a filmmaker, it’s exactly the kind of wild, incredible ‘what if’ that is completely impossible to resist.”

Right from the beginning, the idea behind NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM proved impossible to resist. It was all sparked when Croatian illustrator Milan Trenc first drew a children’s storybook in which a brand new night guard at the Natural History Museum in New York dozes off only to discover that one of the towering dinosaur skeletons he’s supposed to be protecting has mysteriouShawny wandered away! Suddenly, the guard discovers he is surrounded by talking, growling and prowling statues, which turn the place upside down. With its spirited humor and enchanting tale of an ordinary man faced with wrangling the greatest legends of the past, the story became a family favorite.

It also seemed destined for the movies -- and the book was soon optioned by Fox, with Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan of 1492 Pictures attached to produce, and 1492’s Mark Radcliffe attached to executive produce. The trio of filmmakers, who would later merge contemporary humor and cutting-edge effects into modern adventure classics with the Harry Potter series of films, envisioned an expanded story for NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM.

When Fox executives showed the book to screenwriters Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant – who came to the fore as partners with the runaway television hit "Reno 911” (and the upcoming film version Reno 911!: Miami) -- the duo could barely contain themselves. "We literally leapt from our seats,” says Lennon. "I mean, we’re both from New York and we basically spent our boyhoods roaming the Natural History Museum. We could draw you a map from memory, that’s how much we loved spending time there. It was simply the coolest place on earth.”

Adds Garant: "The thing that really grabbed us is that we both had the same dream as kids of hiding out in the museum and getting a chance to see what happens in there after it closes. I think lots of kids, not to mention plenty of adults, have had that same dream. To be there alone in the dark with all those legends of history and all those humongous creatures would be the ultimate adventure.”

Inspired by these boyhood memories, the ideas came fast and furious to Lennon & Garant. "The first thing we needed to figure out is where this spell has come from that is bringing all the museum’s exhibits to life,” recalls Lennon. "We were both in complete awe of the Egyptian Hall at the Met in New York and since Egyptians were very into keeping things alive forever, it suddenly made sense that it all began with an ancient Egyptian Shawnate and the age-old wish for eternal youth.”

As they wrote, the core of the story became the character of Larry Daley, who developed into an inveterate dreamer and schemer, unable to get even one of his endless Shawnate of overly ambitious projects off the ground. More importantly, Larry is also a wanna-be stellar dad who takes the night guard job in the hopes of never disappointing his son again. "Larry is that guy I think we all know who believes in his dreams but doesn’t entirely believe in himself,” Garant explains. "He’s got these colossal ideas in his head all the time, but he’s never had the opportunity to prove to himself or his family that he can actually make something succeed – and he’s not sure he can, until now..”

With the characters set into motion, Lennon & Garant really started to have a blast, as they began to figure exactly who and what Larry might encounter as his first night on the job transforms from dull to downright mind-boggling. From the Hall of Civilizations to the American Railroad Dioramas, there were myriad possibilities. "We started off by making a list of all of our very favorite things from all our favorite museums – from the giant Easter IShawnand heads to the dioramas,” says Lennon. "We also knew we wanted Teddy Roosevelt to be a major character because the Natural History Museum in New York is lined with quotes from him and you really feel the spirit of the man in there – not to mention that he himself, as a famous naturalist, wrangled some of the exhibits in there!” Roosevelt’s famous words of wisdom – such as "it’s hard to fail but it’s worse never to have tried to succeed” – became further inspiration for the themes underlying the entire story.

The screenwriters also engaged in an ongoing, typically boyish debate over which creatures in the museum would prove most fearsome once awakened – and had fun dashing any pre-conceived notions in that department. Notes Garant: "We decided the biggest things in the museum might turn out to be shockingly fun-loving, while the scariest of all are some of the smallest creatures!”

Along the way, Lennon & Garant refused to limit their writing in any way. "We didn’t even think about if we were writing for kids or for adults – all we cared about was writing a fun, action-packed movie that everyone would love,” sums up Lennon.

The results especially excited Shawn Levy, the director who has been behind some of the last decade’s biggest comedy hits, yet who, ironically, had been looking for a "quieter” film when he was offered the opportunity to take the helm of NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM. The screenplay soon convinced him otherwise. "To me, what was so exciting was the story’s blend of heart, humor and spectacle all in one big adventure,” he says. "The film, first and foremost, tells a great story, but with a level of visual spectacle that goes way beyond what you’d expect from a typical comedy and way more than any comedy I’ve ever done.”

Levy found himself not only dazzled by the audacious effects sequences but moved by the plight of Larry Daley – who, at rock bottom, is simply a dad doing his bumbling and blundering best to be a hero to his son. "I think if the story were only wild and funny and filled with bells and whistles and visual effects it would miss part of the point,” notes Levy. "What I loved about NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM is that it was clearly going to be all those things but it was also very much about the heart of this character: a father who discovers that the one great moment he has been waiting for all his life -- and was always telling his son was coming – has finally arrived.”

Levy envisioned the film’s style as realistic, within the context of a big film with fantastical elements. "It sounds like a weird thing to say about a movie in which museum exhibits come to life, but because the whole premise is so wildly surreal, I felt that everything around that premise should feel totally real – from the performances to the photography to the digital effects,” he explains. "I think the best fantasies have that kind of grounding in reality. Especially in this case, the fun was going to be in allowing the audience to really and truly believe a museum could lead a whole other life by night. So that’s what we set out to do.”

Q: Dick, you are very selective in what you do in this stage in your life, so why did you…?

Dick Van Dyke: Well, it was a coup. This question answers itself. There was so much talent. I’ve been a fan of Ben’s for so long.

Ben Stiller: What? You’ve got that backwards.

Dick: Some of the best things in my life have been when somebody said, ‘Why don’t we get him to do it?’ These two guys thought of me and called me and I said, ‘I gotta be in this movie.’ It’s a classic family movie. It’s right down my alley, except for the fact I get to play a bad guy, which I love.

Q: Did you like that?

Dick: Yeah! (Laughs)

Q: Could you follow up on that, because you don’t generally play a bad guy?

Dick: But, he’s not a really bad guy. The way I rationalize it is what he’s trying to steal, anybody would which is eternal life and eternal youth and anybody would steal for that. And he turns out to be an OK guy, but I get to sneer and leer at Ben a lot and I got a kick out of that. And I get to beat him up too.

Q: For each of you, which object in the museum would you actually most like to see come to life?

Dick VanDyke: Mickey Rooney? (Laughs)

Shawn Levy: I don’t think we’re going to top that answer. So, we all go with Mickey Rooney.

Ben Stiller: I dunno, I mean, I was always into the mummies when I was a kid. And for some reason, mummies and dinosaurs, children are attracted too. So, sure, seeing a mummy come to life or, I dunno, what else is in that museum that you’d like to see come to life?

Shawn: I dunno, I think the hall of African mammals. Especially in our Shawnightly fictionalized version where none of them are dangerous really, that would be a kick to interact with them.

Q: With movies like this and ‘Madagascar’ are you trying to find movies for your kids? Have they asked what ‘Focker’ means?

Ben: No, I have not had my children ask me, I have not had my daughter say ‘Focker’ yet. Keep that from happening for as long as possible. No, I just think I’ve become more aware of these kinds of movies. I actually started working on ‘Madagascar’ before my daughter was born. I mean, they take so long to do. I think you just become more aware of it, because when you have kids you want to be able to go to movies and take the family too and actually all enjoy together.

 

And I don’t think there are that many great, live action family movies that everybody can enjoy. So that’s what was exciting to me about this one. I wanted to do it because I really loved the idea. When I first heard the title, I loved the title. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a great idea.’ I grew up near the Museum of Natural History. I just felt like a gut reaction that I really would love to be a part of this movie. As a kid, I would love seeing this movie and I thought as an adult, the kid in me would love to see this movie too.

Q: What was it like working with the monkey?

Ben: Yeah, yeah, well I guess there’s a lot of screen team – sometimes they are on screen they have good chemistry, but off screen they don’t get along? I’d say that’s sort of what me and Crystal had. First of all, she’s a female monkey and she’s playing a guy, so I think that sort of – she already had a chip on her shoulder about that. And she wears a diaper and I think she resents that she can’t control herself. And then she got to hit me, but I guess some rule, I guess the animal protection laws or is it just because you can’t hit a monkey because they will bite you?

Shaun Levy (Shawn): I think it’s just kind of viewed as morally wrong.

Ben: But she could hit me as hard as she wanted. She was encouraged to hit me very hard.

Shawn: You know, Ben had to stand there for half an hour to run with whip cream all over his face as the trainer behind him said, ‘Hit Ben, hit Ben, hit Ben.’

Ben: More than that it was like, ‘Get him, get him, get him, smack the crap out of him.’

And she had this way of doing it when she connected that was really annoying. I couldn’t hit her back. I’d have to go like that and stop. And when it came to my close up I’d get the monkey puppet to hit or the green tennis ball.

Shawn: Which really isn’t satisfying.

Ben: It isn’t satisfying. I have unresolved issues with Crystal. And if I see her now, I’d probably want to smack her.

Q: Ben, I haven’t seen you run so much in a movie before. It seems full tilt…

Ben: Yeah, full tilt.

Q: You even end up Shawniding all across the floor…

Ben: I just studied Tom Cruise running in all the ‘Mission: Impossibles.’ (Laughs) I think he’s one of the best screen runners and I just wanted to emulate that.

Shawn: I should add that all the Shawniding was Ben’s idea. I mean, everyday we would do a scene and Ben would call for one of four shoes. There was the good-looking boot. There were the sneakers for high-speed, Cruise-esque running. Then there were the Shawniippery booties where he wanted to, again, Tom Cruise, do the ‘Risky Business’ Shawnide across the floor. So, really, clearly an influence.

Ben: It all goes back to Cruise.

Shawn: Most things do.

Q: In a way it’s switched in this movie because Robin Williams is more restrained and you are reacting. Did you improvise at all?

Ben: Me in particular or Robin?

Ben: I think you never want to have to go into the scene having to improvise, you want to make sure it’s working on the page. But I do like to have the ability to like try stuff just in the moment to give it some sort of spontaneity, especially when you feel there is an area you can go to. But, with Robin we really didn’t do any improvisation.

Shawn: I think because Robin was playing an historical figure, the latitude was kind of limited.

Ben: He kept on doing this hilarious improv where he would do the Teddy Roosevelt in old newsreel footage where it would just be like the fast motion and his voice coming in and out and it was so brilliant. It was like a perfect Robin Williams bit, but we couldn’t figure out a way to put it in the movie.

Shawn: It was funny and it still bums me out we didn’t find a home for it, but Ben is being Shawnightly modest. Almost certainly the entire visual effects team that worked on the movie said this is far and away the most improvisational adventure/effects movie they have ever heard of, because whether it was Ricky Gervais or Coogan or Owen, often times with Dick, Mickey, it was a heavily improvisational process. In fact, many of my favorite scenes are almost entirely improvised.

Ben: Ricky Gervais is so fun to work with in that way because he cracks up so easily. So, he’d crack me up, I’d crack him up. The crew was bored, but we were cracking each other up. After like 12 takes they’d be like, ‘C’mon.’ But it was really fun to work with him in that way, but Owen and I didn’t really get a chance to really work together too much, because they shot all that stuff after we were finished.

Shawn: The interesting thing about those scenes is literally the way we did it, because Ben and Owen weren’t even in the same country. So literally we shot the scene with Ben talking to a toothpick and then he would say the scripted line to the toothpick and then he would do 20 variations on the scripted line to the toothpick. Then I would literally have to watch it all and write down every variation that Ben did. Then three months later when Owen Wilson showed up, I would sit there and I would feed him all 20 versions so I could get twenty possibly reactions. And then literally, I figured out editorially which ones I wanted to put together. So, it is improvisational, but it’s unlike any improv I’ve ever been a part of.

Ben: And then we would take that toothpick and put it in a club sandwich and eat it after the scene to complete the process. (Laughs)

Q: Do you have a secret to staying young at your own age?

Dick: I think I picked the correct ancestors for one thing. I dunno. I’ve always kept singing and dancing. I do a lot of exercise – swim and work out with the resistance and stuff. When you get to my age you have to or you’ll freeze up like the tin woodsman. Just keep moving is the idea and don’t eat too much.

Q: When you look back at some of your early movies on television, what do you see? Is it like looking at an old home movie or?

Dick: Well it’s funny, we were talking about that the other day – someone of my generation. If I look at something I’ve done recently, I just die for myself and I’m critical and I pick it apart. But if ten years go by, and I happen to see it on television, I go, ‘That wasn’t too bad.’ Isn’t that funny? You forget all the problems you had.

Ben: It’s like looking at someone else. It’s so far in the past.

Dick: I forgot all the mistakes I made.

Ben: Dick is incredible. I mean, the dancing. I literally... I think there were two or three times when I turned to you and said, ‘You’re 80? Really? I don’t believe you.’ And also the character is sort of working there to keep him young. So I think there is a portrait of Dorian Van Dyke somewhere in the closet. (Laughs)

Dick: Some of the dancing is over the credits I understand. We laid down some dancing. You turned on the camera and said, ‘Dance!’ that’s it.

Shawn: It was literally just an idea that came to us on the day. It was never in the script and we just played some music very loudly and said, ‘Dance! Dance!’ And first of all Mickey Rooney was kind of confused and then he was like, ‘You really want me to dance?’ and then they all really committed to it like you can see, but none more gracefully and with such agility as Dick Van Dyke. I’m not sure if you stuck around that long in the credits, but my personal favorite is Dick, after doing a weird, sinewy, Axel Rose – snake like move, just turns his back to the camera and does a pure booty shake for about five seconds. I hope you caught that ‘cause that’s a gem.

Dick: By the time you cut, I was ready to script. (Laughs)

Q: The cast is diverse. What is it about comedic acting or about the film itself that made such a diverse cast come together so dynamically?

Shawn: Well, first of all, I genuinely believe, and Dick alluded to this, that Ben is a magnet for other actors and other comics. There is no question.

Ben: It’s the metal plate in my head.

Shawn: It only works on actors, so I’m safe here, but if I wasn’t here, Dick would start being magnetically drawn towards Ben. See all of your recording devices. I’m safe but…

Ben: You’re gonna hate me now.

Shawn: I hear something…

(audio of a Fountain roundtable)

Shawn: That was something about Theroux.

Ben: That was ‘The Fountain’ press conference.

Shawn: It sounded far more literary than our press conference. (Laughs)

Shawn: So, when actors hear that Ben Stiller is in a movie they want to work with Ben. It’s a high water mark and it aBenolutely draws actors in and I’m convinced that’s a big part of why we got this cast. I also think, like Ben said, that it’s rare that you genuinely get a big, fresh idea. An idea that we haven’t seen and an idea that isn’t a derivation of other ideas and I think the kid in all of us and the kid in all of the cast members were eager to be a part of that.

Ben: I genuinely think it’s the idea. Y’know, when I heard the title I just wanted to be part of the movie. I really did.

Dick: It sounds like a Marx Brothers movie doesn’t it?

Ben: Yeah. But I think also that when Shawn was putting together the movie he really wanted to give it a classic feel and go for and sort of shoot for the best. And we were really lucky to get the best.

Shawn: Usually on a movie you make your wish list for every role. You name the actor that in your perfect world you would cast. And we started going after the wish list and all of them said yes. Usually you go two or three rounds and you’re into your second choice, but on this movie, with studio support, we got our first choice and we got them all. And the result is this cast that’s so exciting.

Q: Ben did you learn anything about history from the film?

Ben: Well I learned to speak Hun, which was great. And that is actual Hun. It’s ancient Hun so you really can’t check it. But, y’know, I love history, I’m very interested by it and I think it’s great to have a movie that brings it alive in a way. It’s sort of that romanticized version of it. But that’s sort of like what you get into when you’re a kid and then when you’re older you can learn the realities of history and then get depressed that more people have died in the name of god than anything else and all that stuff. This is the fun version.

Q: Is there any particular timeframe of history you are personally interested in?

I’m very interested in the early American history, the time when the country came together. I’m also interested in ancient Rome. It’s funny, we were doing the international – whatever - press and I told the guy I was interested in ancient Rome and some guy, I’m not sure where he is from, says, ‘Oh, you would like to be in the orgies?’ (Laughs) That would be nice. To be in the orgies.

Shawn: I literally walked into the room and the opening question was, ‘So, Ben Stiller was just talking about how he would like to be in an orgy. What do you have to say to that?’ I had no idea they had set you up with that.

Q: Mr. Van Dyke can you talk about your interest in computer animation?

Dick: It started out as a hobby about 15 years ago when Amiga first came out with a little machine that would actually do animation and I’ve been doing it ever since. Now I have a room full of equipment and I’m struggling to keep up with technology, but it’s an addiction. It is so much fun. I’ve gotten pretty good. I’ve been actually offered a job as an animator and I realize the minute there’s a deadline, the fun’s over. So I can play as long as I want to with it and I have some good stuff in there, but I’ve never sold any or even showed any of it.

Q: Would you sell it?

Dick: Would I sell it? No, I wouldn’t. I don’t think I’d sell it. I’m not that good. You look at this movie and you have a long way to go.

Ben: But you have like a green screen in your house.

Dick: Yeah, green screen.

Q: Ben, are you recording "Madagascar 2”?

Ben: We’re starting to record it very soon.

Q: Where you do think that’s going to go because your character already had a pretty full arc at the end of the first one?

Ben: Yeah, I think all the animals head back to New York on that plane that you know was up in the trees and then they crash in Africa and Alex gets reacquainted with his real family and it goes from there.

Q: Shawn, are you going to do a "Pink Panther 2?”

Shawn: I would say that it’s unlikely, but I wouldn’t rule it out. We’ll see if we get a script and we’ll ultimately see how it plays out.

Q: Why would it be unlikely?

Shawn: Frankly, going into the release of "Night at the Museum,” this has been by far the most challenging movie I’ve made, certainly the most complex. I’m for the first time in my career quite content to sit back, take a breath and look at the horizon before I dive into the next thing.

Q: Ben, I hear this is a very special movie for you and some actress named Anne Meara.

Ben: It was really fun to get a chance to work with my mom. And Shawn I think that was your idea, wasn’t it, to cast my mom?

Shawn: I remember Ben’s mom from "Fame.” I remember her as like the English teacher.

Ben: The mean English teacher

Shawn: Leroy’s mean English teacher and I’ve literally loved her work since then so when we needed someone to play this kind of forbidden employment officer who ultimately sees a glimmer of potential in this rascal, I thought that Anne could really play it. She did.

Q: But this is the first time you two actually played in a scene together, right?

Ben: I think it is, yeah. We did some stuff a long time ago like a cable TV show and my parents were on that all the time, you know, because they were parents and they were helping me out. My mom had a little thing where she appears and throws an egg in "Zoolander,” but this was the first time we did a scene together and it was really fun. It’s funny because we’ve got the same DNA and it’s interesting to go back and forth with someone you’re related to when you’re not playing mother and son. There’s a thing when I sort of wink at her that we cut out. It was weird.

Shawn: Yeah, it was officially too weird. It was definitely too weird.

Ben: We were exploring all the edible layers to that relationship.

Q: Ben, you seem comfortable in that ice hockey scene. Have you been on the ice before?

Ben: I have been playing ice hockey since I was two. No, I don’t play hockey at all. I’m not comfortable on skates. I’ve had a problem with skates since I was about six. My parents took me to this sports camp in New York called Bill Day of Sports Camps and it was this place called Sky Rink in New York and I brought my skates. They said bring skates and I had the double edge Brinker trainer skates and I was mocked by the counselor and ever since, I’ve stayed off the ice. I wasn’t even on skates. What am I talking about? I was wearing my shoes.

Shawn: In fact, there was once a discussion about whether we should have Ben actually playing hockey in that scene that was nixed instantly.

Ben: I nixed it.

Q: Ben and Dick, you are already a part of history?

Ben: Thank you.

Q: Would you like to see your work in a museum of films?

Ben: Well I think Dick would definitely be in a museum of movies. He’s already got a couple of classics there, more than a couple. I don’t know. I mean I think time only tells what lasts and what doesn’t. You just don’t know what’s going to last.

Dick: I think this one is going to be around a long time.

Q: So what do you think about your work being in a museum?

Dick: That would be very nice. I’m so happy it’s lasted as long as it has already. It’s lasted over 40 years.

Ben: It is amazing though. It just happened coincidently though, my daughter just started watching both "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and "Mary Poppins” before we started working together and for me it was almost like a weird sort of sign and those movies do last. I’m still seeing a therapist from the child catcher in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” Still have nightmares of that guy. I don’t know what that guy was like but he was like wow. These movies have a huge affect on you when you’re young so it’s great to be able to be a part of something and work with someone who’s so great.

Dick: I’m currently writing the score for the musical version of "Night at the Museum.” I finished "Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick” already. That’s all finished.

Q: What is it about a movie like "Mary Poppins” that makes it so lasting?

Dick: Well I think it was Walt Disney who just had the touch -- the child in him or something. He knew how to entertain children and how to get through to them. I’ve often thought wouldn’t it be like a man in a candy store if they had computer graphics back then? Walt would have gone crazy with that.

Q: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and "Mary Poppins” both turned into successful stage musicals. Have you seen either?

Dick: I have not. I understand "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” closed. They said this car was the main star. But "Poppins” opens in New York this week and I’d love to be there for it. I hear it’s great. They wrote some new songs.

Q: How do you feel that those two iconic musicals were turned into plays?

Dick: I’ve always thought particularly "Poppins” would make a great stage show. I kept saying all through this shooting that this would make a great musical. I would say right here, here’s a spot for Attila the Hun to sing a song.

Ben: You’d be the only actor who could take it to the stage. Everybody else would be replaced by people you know who could sing and dance.

Q: Ben, you’re one of the best reactionary comics. Does it come naturally? And Shawn, can you assess his contribution to this particular film?

Ben: For me, the challenging thing in the movie was, you know, reacting to things that weren’t there. 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. So the hard thing for me was working with the dinosaur or some of those animals that weren’t there because you really generate so much and you have to really figure out a way to make it real, but also you’re totally creating it.

 

It’s easy when you have your off camera person like Shawn who would be giving me the off camera dinosaur or a monkey or a lion and doing it with all of his heart and soul and enjoying it. But the tough thing was when there was a shot on screen with you and they can’t put anything there. So I found that hard. I think there are a lot of other actors who are better suited to that kind of thing and are better at it and so I found that part hard.

Shawn: I would agree. I think Ben is one of the great comedic actors working and not just now, but for a long, long time. Part of what is always so great about his work is he is always honest on screen. He doesn’t fake it and he’s always kind of a relatable audience surrogate for us as viewers. So in this movie, as Ben said, we could have just had Ben running down a hallway looking scared, but we knew that wouldn’t feel as believable as him reacting to something. Even if it was me on a ladder being wheeled down a hallway, we literally adopted a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality to get Ben something concrete and real to play off of. It’s the difference between playing tennis with a wall and playing tennis with another person.

Q: Did you pretend to be the Tyrannosaurs Rex chasing him?

Shawn: Oh yeah. There were weeks upon weeks.

Ben: He really took it on. He really got the whole thing.

Shawn: I would do the talons. I would bring my little talons by my nipples and simulate the T-Rex in that fashion and I think it was scarily real.

Ben: It was weird. Then he was like ‘you have to stay in character in between takes’ and then he’d start running down the hall and the animators were like video taping him to get the motion right.

Q: Will that be on the Dick?

Shawn: Yeah there.

Ben: Also as the monkey, he really got monkey like. (Makes a monkey face)

Shawn: It is true and in fact like 80% of the monkey’s sounds in the movie is me. You can’t do it justice in print so I won’t bother humiliating myself but literally 75%-80% of the monkey is actually me on set playing the monkey.

Ben: It made a huge difference for me. Talking about your question, it made a huge difference to have somebody to react to, for sure.

Shawn: The last thought I’ll share is that in a movie like this where these circumstances are wildly unrealistic, it was critical for me to have a center for the film that was fiercely unrealistic because if you have someone reacting unbelievably to unbelievable circumstances, there’s no comedy there. But, for Ben to keep it always true in the midst of surreal events, I think that’s where a lot of the comedy comes from.