The classic 1997 movie Ben Stiller refused to direct: “No, thank you!”
While there are no arguments that he’s a solid director, Ben Stiller isn’t exactly what you’d call a prestigious one, with none of his six features having made much, if any, of an awards season splash.
Really, his behind-the-camera career has specialised in cult classics, with Stiller helming Reality Bites, The Cable Guy, and Zoolander, all of which deserve the designation. Tropic Thunder was a box office hit, but the less said about the ill-judged and ten years too late Zoolander 2, the better.
The only time it felt as though the actor, filmmaker, and comedian was aiming squarely for the Academy Awards came when he made The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which smelled like awards bait from a mile away. It wasn’t good enough to qualify, though, failing to earn a single nomination from any of the major organisations.
He’s fared better on the small screen, to be fair, with his work on the crime drama Escape at Dannemora and Severance notching him three Primetime Emmy nods for ‘Outstanding Directing’, but on the big screen, Stiller’s work hasn’t seen him welcomed into the upper echelons of the auteurial elite.
Things could have been different, though, had he not rejected the chance to take the reins on a film that hasn’t only earned its stripes as a classic, but won two Oscars, and landed a further seven nominations, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’. With the benefit of hindsight, maybe he should have said yes.
After all, he was coming off the back of his sophomore directorial effort, The Cable Guy, and while it’s been given its flowers in the three decades since, it failed to justify the cost of making Jim Carrey the industry’s first $20 million leading man, even if it wasn’t an out-and-out flop.
Even though he was still a relatively inexperienced filmmaker himself, when his team forwarded him a screenplay penned by a couple of virtual unknowns, he turned it down flat. “I remember my agent sent me the script for Good Will Hunting to direct,” Stiller recalled.
“And I was like, ‘Who are these guys, Affleck and Damon? And why are they attached to this project?'” he recalled. “No, thank you! I mean, maybe I’d change that.” In his defence, he wasn’t the only one who baulked at signing on, with screenwriters Ben Affleck and Matt Damon refusing to hand over their baby unless they were allowed to play major roles onscreen.
Mel Gibson and Michael Mann were among the other directors the Bostonian BFFs met with during the arduous process of bringing Good Will Hunting to the screen, and things didn’t really start gaining momentum until Gus Van Sant signed on. In another world, it could have been Stiller.
