Just before his The Secret Life of Walter Mitty made its world premiere at the New York Film Festival, director Ben Stiller, who also stars in the title role, quipped to those in attendance, “I want to thank the Film Society of Lincoln Center for having the courage to show a Ben Stiller movie.”
Aside from being a funny line, it also signals something more–the fact that The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a breakthrough film for him as a director, representing quite a departure from The Cable Guy, Zoolander and Tropic Thunder (which notably earned Robert Downey Jr. Best Supporting Actor nominations in the Oscar and BAFTA Award competitions).
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is based on James Thurber’s short story of a day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroic deeds, romance and high action and adventure. When his job at the waning Life magazine along with that of his co-worker (Kristen Wiig)–whom he has considerably more than a crush on–are threatened, Mitty takes action in the real world, embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary that anything he could have imagined.
The movie is part romance, part comedy, part action-adventure, a fable-esque story that carries relevance in that it’s a character story centered on a character with whom we can universally identify–a person who dreams of a better life. He aspires to something more. And suddenly in real life he amazingly has a chance to attain just that and he then totally pursues the opportunity.
“I like movies that you can’t quite categorize or put in a specific genre,” said Stiller. “This is something different from what I’ve directed before. It’s not without humor but there’s something more–there’s something sad and sweet about Walter. My earlier work as a director has been more satiric. This is not a cynical movie.”
Stiller was drawn to Steve Conrad’s script and the original Thurber story which appeared in a 1939 edition of The New Yorker magazine. Thurber’s story sparked a 1947 musical comedy starring the incomparable Danny Kaye. While there was some thought at one point of remaking that film, what piqued Stiller’s interest was to do something quite different–more based on the spirit of Thurber’s story.
“What we’ve done is not a remake of the original movie because that was only very loosely based on Thurber’s story,” related Stiller. “We set out to be more true to what that story meant from a human standpoint. We tapped into what is very relatable in terms of the Walter Mitty character–being a dreamer, wanting something more out of life. In Walter’s case, while he’s doing alright, he’s also trying to have a life.”
Key choices Stiller said of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty that “the story and imagery inherent in the script gave this movie the chance to feel much different than other films I’ve worked on. I enjoyed that process.”
That process relative to imagery included Stiller’s selection of Stuart Dryburgh, ASC, to lens The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Dryburgh was nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar in 1994 for Jane Campion’s The Piano, “Images were very important to Walter Mitty in terms of our story,” said Stiller. “He catalogs negatives at Life magazine. He cares about the film which includes some of the most iconic images of the 20th century that are being archived away with seemingly nobody caring about them in a corporate world which is taking over the magazine and sees it as little more than another ‘asset.’
“Imagery is also very important in helping to define Walter,” continued Stiller. “The images in the beginning of the movie put Walter in frames that are very rigid and boxed in.
“But as Walter opens up, goes out in the world, the images too evolve. Through light and color his world gradually becomes much fuller. Stuart is a brilliant guy in terms of making light work. He totally got the aesthetic of what we were going after.”
Photographically The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is also Stiller’s love letter to New York City, realized in large part by Dryburgh’s visual acumen.
“This movie all came out of a story in The New Yorker. Thurber and the feeling of New York are part of the DNA of the movie,” said Stiller. “And Life magazine’s offices reflect classic New York architecture from the 1950s. You have the Time-Life Building and that section of Sixth Avenue–many buildings that were built in the 1940s and early ’50s. We also shot in Central Park which is quintessential New York. We tried to find those parts of New York that shed light on Walter. New York can be a large, cold place. But it can also be a warm place. And it’s a beautiful place. I grew up in the city. I love the city. And Walter is trying to find his place in the city.”
While Dryburgh and Stiller collaborated for the first time, the director turned to a familiar artisan to cut the movie, Greg Hayden, A.C.E., an Eddie nominee in 2009 for Tropic Thunder in the Feature Comedy or Musical category.
Among Hayden’s other credits are the Stiller-directed The Cable Guy and Zoolander, as well as Little Fockers (directed by Paul Weitz) in which Stiller starred. “Greg is one of the most talented editors on the planet,” affirmed Stiller. “He has an incredible sense of humor and is so technically astute, but what he puts first is the development of the character.”
In terms of character, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is similar in one respect to several other Stiller-directed films such as Zoolander, Tropic Thunder and Reality Bites–all starred Stiller.
Asked if directing and starring in a film translates into too full a plate–particularly as the title characters in Walter Mitty and Zoolander–Stiller acknowledged that at times it can seem daunting.
He shared, “For Tropic Thunder, I tried to cast somebody else in my role. For Zoolander, I tried to get somebody else to direct. The test for me is if I can connect with something as an actor and separately as a director. Would I direct the movie if I weren’t acting in it? Would I act in the movie if I weren’t directing it? If I say yes to those two questions, then I can see myself possibly doing both–though I never set out to.”
The dual role of director and actor, observed Stiller, leads to his “trusting the other actors a lot. They understand what you’re going through as an actor and you give them the freedom–and some guidance when needed–as a director. Fortunately I’ve been in situations where everybody pulls together.”
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty–which has generated early Academy Awards buzz, spurred on by its debut at the NY Film Festival–opens wide on Dec. 25.
