Published: March 19, 2010
Los Angeles – You might not even recognize Ben Stiller at the moment, for the usually bulked-up, over-the-top comedic actor has transformed himself into a low-key guy for his latest film, the dry comedy "Greenberg."
With his graying facial hair, longish locks and much-thinner frame, it took a second to realize that the man on Christine Taylor's arm at the film's premiere was actually the same muscle-bound, black-haired maniac from "Tropic Thunder." But it was, and as Stiller and his wife greeted "Greenberg" writer-director Noah Baumbach on the red carpet in front of Hollywood's Arclight Cinemas on Thursday, March 18, to celebrate the opening of the offbeat comedy, it was obvious that Stiller had decided to channel Baumbach's look in order to portray the title role.
"When Noah and I got together, we talked about changing how I looked for the movie," Stiller recalled at an earlier press day for the film. "He suggested growing the hair out a little bit, and then we talked about either gaining weight or losing weight to sort of give a different feel to him. I just felt that it was important that this guy wasn't really in his body that much.
"So we decided to go with losing it. I kind of wanted to go for a Noah Baumbach-type look, even though it's not him in the movie at all. So I was just attempting to get there. So I stopped eating. I mean that's it. You just have to do that."
"Greenberg" follows the adventures of a slightly sad slacker, a New Yorker who heads to Los Angeles to housesit his wealthy brother's mansion; in the process, Greenberg finds romance and a reason to reconnect into life.
At the low-key premiere and after party, Stiller and Baumbach joined the movie's co-stars Greta Gerwig, Chris Messina, Susan Traylor, Brie Larson and Rhys Ifans in celebrating. Other famous fans that turned out for the unspooling of the independent film included Hank Azaria, Jonah Hill, Greg Behrendt, Julian Sands, and Sarah Silverman.
And as for why Ben Stiller decided to ratchet back his recent over-the-top movie persona to star in "Greenberg," that question was simple for him to explain.
"For me this movie was a conscious choice to work on a film with a really great filmmaker," Stiller said, referring to Baumbach's track record as an Academy Award best original screenplay nominee for his 2005 film "The Squid and the Whale." "I'm always looking for that. So this one, just to be able to do something good with a filmmaker that I respect, was very exciting for me."
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