'Severance' executive producer and director Ben Stiller chats with The Hollywood Reporter about his close collabs. From filming with the late Robin Williams to working with major stars like Robert De Niro, Jennifer Aniston and more. He dishes on the reason he wanted to change Adam Scott's hairstyle in 'Severance,' when Will Ferrell improvised in 'Zoolander' and the first time he met Williams when he was 12 years old.
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00:00What can you say working with Robert De Niro?
00:02The thing I remember the most is that the first scene we did together,
00:06I ended up cracking up in his face when he said his first line.
00:10I just laughed.
00:11I broke character because I was so nervous and he was funny.
00:15Hi, I'm Ben Stiller and we're here at my Hollywood Reporter cover shoot
00:20and we're taking a look at some of my close collabs.
00:22Will Ferrell's Zoolander, the no eye contact when you're doing a scene rule that he has,
00:35makes it challenging but eventually I actually thought it helped.
00:42I was just kidding. Will's a genius.
00:44I mean, I remember him, I think, improvising the line,
00:49I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
00:52Doesn't anyone notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
00:56I think that was an improv in the moment of Will's laughing most of the time watching him.
01:02I love that he dyed his hair white or bleach blonde for the entire shoot,
01:06which went on for like three months while he was doing Saturday Night Live.
01:12Winona Ryder in Reality Bites, amazing.
01:15Gave me the opportunity to direct because she wanted to do the movie.
01:20Recommended this guy, Ethan Hawke.
01:23Winona was LaLaina.
01:25She believed in the project so much.
01:28She was great to work with and she's just like a very, very sweet person.
01:35When you make your first movie, there's so many things that you do wrong that you realize
01:39and then you try to do it better the next time, then you make other mistakes.
01:43But I'm trying to think of one.
01:45I mean, there was one scene where I didn't shoot any coverage.
01:48I thought I was going to kind of do it all as a one-er in one piece
01:52and that ended up really not working out for me
01:55and I ended up having to just chop the scene in half.
02:05What can you say working with Robert De Niro?
02:16Every day, I was just excited to be there and nervous and trying to do well.
02:22And the thing I remember the most is that the first scene we did together,
02:27I ended up cracking up in his face when he said his first line.
02:31I just laughed.
02:32A broke character because I was so nervous and he was funny and then he laughed.
02:39So I knew it would be okay.
02:41I had no idea you could milk a cat.
02:44Oh yeah, you can milk anything with nipples.
02:49I have nipples, Greg.
02:50Could you milk me?
02:52How did you meet Robin Williams?
03:01First time I met Robin Williams was at the Improv Comedy Club in LA,
03:05probably in like 1970, I don't know, 78 or something, 77 or 78.
03:11He was on Mork & Mindy.
03:13He was a huge star that everybody had just discovered.
03:17I was a huge fan.
03:19I was like, whatever, 12 years old.
03:21And my parents were there and they introduced me to him.
03:26And I was walking behind my mother and Robin whispered in my ear,
03:31stay close to your mother, you'll be safe.
03:33Stay close to your mother, you'll be safe.
03:36And I was like, that's the coolest thing I've ever experienced as a 12-year-old.
03:41Anybody who spent time with Robin felt his generosity
03:45anytime a fan would come over to him, anywhere,
03:48anytime he would give them his attention and connect with them.
03:54And he was incredibly generous as an actor, as a person.
03:59You know, he was crazy too and had all that amazing energy,
04:05which was just so unique, but it all came out of such a really positive place.
04:12It's time for your next adventure.
04:14I have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow.
04:17How exciting.
04:27Gosh, what can you say about Adam?
04:31Best hair in the biz.
04:33I've said it before.
04:34I think for a while he skated by on his hair.
04:38And that was one of the reasons why we wanted to change up his hairstyle and severance.
04:42Because I knew that there was something behind the hair.
04:46But he's also a nice guy too.
04:49And very professional.
04:52I sometimes wonder with his hair,
04:56do the roots of the hair actually go so far deep into his head that that's why it's so great?
05:01You know, like how a tree has roots and that's what gives it the ability to stand tall.
05:06I think the roots of his hair go into his brain and sometimes...
05:10Anyway, I should say nice things about him.
05:22I mean, she's, you know, she's the best, Jennifer.
05:25She was a great scene partner.
05:28Such amazing with comedy.
05:31Sweet on the inside.
05:34And we had fun.
05:35And we had fun and, you know, we got in some, you know,
05:39awkward situations together and got through it together.
05:43The last scene in Along Came Polly, we have to walk down a beach.
05:49Nude.
05:50So we got through that one together.
05:53And she was very supportive and I appreciated that.
05:56And I've been happy and I've been sad and I've been lonely and that's what I've been doing.
06:01Which is a lot more than I can say for some freak who thinks he's gonna get
06:04the Ebola virus from Ebola mixed nuts.
06:06Those nuts have pee on them!
06:16My brother, Adam.
06:18That's how I feel about Adam.
06:19He's, especially in that movie, we kind of came together having known each other for a lot of years.
06:26You know, he's singular.
06:27He does things his own way.
06:30And it's great the way he does things because he includes everybody on the set.
06:35He's the man of the people.
06:37The first time I met Adam, I think, was when he was doing the MTV
06:43game show called Remote Control back in the late 80s.
06:46And I was there and he was doing this character, Stud Boy,
06:50that would come on and ask questions.
06:53And he was a real sensation.
06:55And girls liked him and he was cool.
06:58I was a little intimidated by him.
07:00And now, now I'm happy when people mistake me for him.
07:04Are you Harold Meyerowitz's son, Matthew?
07:07Yes, and this is Danny, also Harold Meyerowitz's son.
07:11I didn't realize he had two sons.
07:21Owen Wilson.
07:22He's a guy who, you know, it looks like, you know,
07:26he kind of looks like he's sort of like tripping through life, you know,
07:29kind of like stumbling into like, oh, wait, I just showed up here.
07:32Wow.
07:33And he actually is.
07:35That's the thing.
07:36You know, sometimes people like you look, they go, well,
07:38they do all this work to get there and like behind the scenes.
07:40And then they just, I think Owen just is that.
07:44And he would probably appreciate that because he's,
07:50he's a great writer too.
07:52Owen Wilson's a great writer.
07:53Oscar nominated writer.
07:55One of the funniest people I know.
07:57It'd be funny to do something together again.
07:59Maybe we will actually.
08:01And maybe we'll see.