Ben Stiller has a lot of... interesting... projects under his belt. He's known for doing some really quirky projects, but also some cult classic films that people have a hard time getting over the perfection of.
So it was interesting for fans to find out that there was one film in particular where Stiller had literally zero clue what he was doing, although in the end, it turned out great.
Fans Got Ben Stiller's Favorite Film Correct...
In a Reddit AMA, a fan gave Ben the rhetorical question of what his favorite film was and why it was 'Heavyweights.' The gold-award-winning Redditor seemed to have a point; Ben Stiller had a great story about making the film, though it wasn't what fans expected.
Ben flat-out answered that the movie was a good example of "where the studio had no idea what we were doing." He elaborated that no one on the set really knew what they were getting themselves into.
So unlike films where Stiller crafted the entire thing (including the scene where he smacks his wife in the face with a dodgeball), this one was sort of dumped in his lap to mold and shape, even if he took it in the wrong direction.
Ben Stiller And Crew Thought 'Heavyweights' Was For Adults
When Ben Stiller and his crew first received the script for 'Heavyweights,' they thought it was a regular old grown-up movie, like most of the other stuff they did. The fact that it came from Judd Apatow had them thinking they could approach the movie the same as their other projects of that era.
Which meant that it turned out "so dark and weird," it completely freaked out the Disney execs that had actually ordered it. Ben noted that "we all didn't realize it was a Disney movie," which threw the whole thing off.
At the time, Stiller stated, none of them had done a "kids" movie, so it was a novel thing for a studio to expect them to put together a kid-friendly film with the cast they had. And, Ben confirmed, he "had a great time."
He also joked that after 'Heavyweights,' Judd Apatow moved away from "family movies," and for a good reason. Still, Ben's style seems to be "no regrets," and he's made plenty of other films that are decidedly un-family friendly -- and fans love him for it.
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