Ben Stiller shared that working with Noah Baumbach on the movie “Greenberg” taught him something new. On a podcast with Mike Birbiglia, he mentioned that Baumbach had a unique way of directing—he didn’t allow chairs on set! This approach stood out to Stiller.
I think it was like 10 days into shooting, and I’m like, ‘Where’s the chairs? Oh my God, there’s no chairs here. And that’s his choice because he doesn’t want to have people sitting around.
Stiller said
Stiller said that despite no chairs, people still found places to sit. However, the rule helped everyone stay focused and active. When Stiller directed the adventure comedy “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” a few years later, he used Baumbach’s “no chairs” rule himself.
Advertisement Since Stiller has worked with directors like Baumbach and Wes Anderson, he said he has learned some of their techniques and uses them in his own projects.
I’ll take something like that, like, ‘That’s a good idea! No chairs.
Stiller said
On the Apple TV+ sci-fi show “Severance,” where Stiller is the director and executive producer, he made a rule of “no phones.”
Crew have to use phones sometimes to communicate, but, for me, I like no phones anywhere near the eyeshot of the actors. My least favorite thing is to see a dolly grip guy hunched down while an actor is acting their brains out, and he’s scrolling or whatever. It drives me crazy.
Stiller said
Stiller said he doesn’t want actors to see cell phones on set because being in front of the camera is “such a vulnerable thing.”
As a director, you want to protect that environment for the actors. But by the way, you also have to be respectful of the crew. … These people are actually working really hard, and you have to figure out how to motivate them to want to be on the team. They haven’t been with the script that you’ve been writing for five years. They just came on last week. So, it’s on you as a director to figure out a way to get everybody on board.
Stiller said
Earlier in the podcast, Birbiglia shared that Stiller had thought about casting him as Ricken Hale, the serious author of “The You You Are.”
We did kind of go down the road on Birbiglia’s potential casting in Severance, but ultimately the part went to Michael Chernus. You would have been a great Ricken.
Stiller told Birbiglia
Source: Variety