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Ben Stiller has certainly tackled some difficult challenges throughout his acclaimed career as an actor, producer and director but none, he says, was quite like the task that faced him on Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.
Stiller was delighted to return as Larry Daley in the third, eagerly anticipated installment of the hugely successful franchise and this time, he takes on an extra role – as a caveman named Laaa who is Larry’s Neanderthal doppelganger. And this just meant doing some scenes where he is literally acting opposite himself.
When asked Ben about his double role in the film he said, ‘It was surreal and ultimately a lot of fun. When the idea for Laaa came up, it made me laugh because I thought it could be a fun element — and I’ve always enjoyed cavemen and Neanderthals and that whole evolutionary process. When Director Shawn Levy pitched the idea I thought this could be really funny because there’s innocence to Laaa, he is like a little kid who just wants Larry’s attention and love, but then he also has this very visceral caveman thing going on.
But later we hear it got very difficult as Stiller had to shoot few scenes twice. When asked about this he added, ‘I had to do a bunch of scenes with myself as two characters. I’d never done that before, and that’s where that motion control stuff comes in, which was very interesting.It was probably the most involved technical thing I’ve ever done in a movie. You have to first figure out who is driving the scene, and then you do that character first. Shawn and I would rehearse, and he would play whichever role I wasn’t. Then I would do both sides of it with him, and we would figure out which side of the character to do first—so I could then react’
Well, with so much technicality involved we are sure that Stiller and the audiences will remember this role for lifetime!!
Night at the Museum : Secret of the Tomb is all set to release on 25th December 2014.
