From 
Del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
TwitThis
Typecast?
In terms of sheer masculine beauty, Ben Stiller is an unlikely member of Hollywood’s leading man elite. Although feature for feature he can compete with the best of them, his lopsided expressions and goofy mannerisms set him apart from his more classically dashing peers. Yet the movies he has appeared in, almost 40 in the 20 years since he made his screen debut, have grossed more than $3.4 billion globally. In the past year, according to the Forbes Celebrity 100, Stiller, 41, has earned a tidy $38 million—more than heartthrobs Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and George Clooney.Stiller, of course, specializes in comedy, and his off-kilter features are among his greatest assets. In his best-loved films, he tends to play one of two types: a bumbling nerd who must discover his inner hero (Robert De Niro’s would-be son-in-law in Meet the Parents, the hapless security guard in Night at the Museum) or a manic narcissist whose self-esteem hilariously outstrips his actual talents (the airheaded model in Zoolander, the pumped-up gym owner in DodgeBall). He’s just good-looking enough, and just nebbishy enough, to pull off both kinds of roles.
But his most potent source of cinematic magnetism—and the quality that led People, a few years back, to name him the Sexiest Funnyman Alive—may be the interplay between his hyperactive intelligence and his irrepressible physicality. For fans of his nerd roles (say, the insurance analyst in Along Came Polly, who draws up risk-benefit charts to guide his romance with gorgeous bohemian Jennifer Aniston), half the fun comes from watching the struggle between animal instinct and a neurotically vigilant mind.
That conflict is due for a reprise in The Heartbreak Kid, scheduled for release in October. A remake of the 1972 Neil Simon film, directed this time by the Farrelly brothers, the movie stars Stiller as an indecisive man who marries an obnoxious beauty, only to meet his apparent soul mate on his honeymoon.
In our interview with the actor, we asked whether he identifies with his eternally ambivalent characters. Stiller has always been loath to discuss such matters. “People like to define you through what they’ve seen you do,” he says, his leg fidgeting beneath a conference table on Paramount’s Hollywood lot. “There are aspects of my personality, I guess, that come through on-screen, but I don’t sit around thinking, I’ve been a bumbling suitor all my life.”
John Hamburg, who directed Along Came Polly and cowrote Zoolander and other Stiller projects, describes his colleague both on-screen and off as “a very focused, intense person. His character is driven by obsession.”
Advertisement 
