The movie Ben Stiller considers his most underrated: “I’ve always liked that”
It took until just recently for Ben Stiller to be recognised for his serious side.
Being the son of two famous comedians, Stiller had to work hard to prove that he was not just an untalented ‘nepo baby’ who had been given opportunities because of his last name, but a genuinely proficient comedian who would have been successful on his own merits.
Even within the realm of comedy actors who began to peak in the late 1990s and early 21st century, Stiller distinguished himself as someone who was willing to take chances. There are comedy stars like Adam Sandler and Vince Vaughn who essentially play the same character in every film, but that’s not something that Stiller was interested in doing.
Between a gross-out comedy like There’s Something About Mary, a ridiculous supporting role in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, a ruthless satire like Tropic Thunder, and a fairly old-fashioned romantic comedy like Along Came Polly, the actor showed that he wasn’t just relying on the same schtick every time.
Perhaps the most significant thing to happen to him was his biggest failure, as the extreme backlash to Zoolander 2 blindsided him, forcing him to think deeply about the types of stories that he wanted to be telling for the rest of his career. Although Stiller had dabbled in dramedy with his directorial debut, Reality Bites, back in 1994, he launched himself into far more serious material when he directed the crime thriller limited series Escape at Dannemora for Showtime, which received universal praise.
Stiller had an even stronger creative role when he became the primary director on the science fiction Apple TV series Severance, which was an instant hit and praised as one of the best shows in recent memory. It’s perhaps because he’s been so successful taking on darker material that he was compelled to look back at one of his earlier drama roles as one that didn’t get enough credit at its time.
“I’ve always liked that little movie Permanent Midnight that I did back in ‘97, ‘98 about Jerry Stahl, the comedy write,” he admitted to Collider, “It’s a true story. He was a heroin addict, and figured it out. I just always felt that was a good little movie. Every once in a while, someone will shout out, ‘Hey, Permanent Midnight!’ It’s great.”
Permanent Midnight was released during one of the busiest years of Stiller’s career, and tended to be overshadowed by the attention paid to There’s Something About Mary, Zero Effect, and Your Friends & Neighbours. However, it’s a film that was incredibly honest about the realities of being a creative person in Hollywood, and featured a tough exploration of addiction that was far more frank than most issue-based dramas at the time were capable of.
While most of the more serious projects that Stiller has been involved with recently have been those that he has only directed but not appeared in, such as Escape at Dannemora and Severance, Permanent Midnight showed that he was capable of being more serious as a performer. Now that he has been recognised for being a legitimately brilliant filmmaker capable of more than comedy, he might be inspired to take on another dramatic role that shows how much he has evolved as an actor.
