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.
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