Night at the Museum star Ben Stiller lavished high praise on his co-star Dick Van Dyke. The actor’s young daughter had been watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins at home prior to Stiller working with Van Dyke on this family comedy, and Stiller was incredibly happy to be performing with the man who has been responsible for so many memorable performances in classic films.
Stiller confessed to being blown away by Dick Van Dyke’s dancing skills which he shows off in Night at the Museum. “Dick is incredible,” said Stiller. “I mean, the dancing. I think there were two or three times when I turned to [Dick] and said, ‘You’re 80? Really? I don’t believe you.’” Stiller joked, “I think there is a portrait of Dorian Van Dyke somewhere in the closet.”
You are very selective about the film projects you take on. Why did Night at the Museum catch your attention?
“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,” said Van Dyke, adding, “Some of the best thing 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.”
Could you follow up on that ‘bad guy’ comment because you don’t generally play a bad guy?
“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. Anybody would steal for that. He turns out to be an okay guy. But I get to sneer and leer at Ben a lot, and I got a kick out of that. I get to beat him up, too.”
Do you have a secret for staying young?
“I think I picked the correct ancestors for one thing. I don’t know. 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.”
Can you talk about your interest in computer animation?
“It started out as a hobby about 15 years ago when Amega 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.”
Would you ever consider selling it?
“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.”
What is it about a movie like Mary Poppins that made it have such lasting appeal?
“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 he be like a man in a candy store if they had computer graphics back then?’ Walt would have gone crazy with that.”
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins have both been turned into stage musicals. Have you seen either of them?
“I have not. I understand Chitty Chitty Bang Bang closed. They said the 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.”
How do you feel about those two iconic musicals being turned into plays?
“I’ve always thought in particular 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.”
When you look back at some of your early movies now playing on television, what do you see? Is it like looking at an old home movie?
“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. I’m critical and I pick it apart. But if 10 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.”
