By: Izumi Hasegawa

Funny-men Ben Stiller and Chris Rock give us a behind-the-scenes look at their experience making Madascar 2: Escape From Africa.

Izumi Hasegawa: Ben, were you there when your son [Alex] played you as a child?

Ben Stiller: Yeah, I was there, my wife was there, and my daughter was there. It lasted about 90 seconds — the amount of time that he was into it, and then he started to cry and got upset, and that’s, of course, what we used in the movie. So it was a real method-acting performance. It was real emotion that you’re hearing. It was probably extremely traumatic for him.

IH: For each of you, how soon after the first movie came did you get word that there was indeed going to be a sequel, and how up for it were you?

Chris Rock: Pretty quick.

BS: Yeah, pretty quickly after.

IH: Did you already have some ideas on what you wanted to see, and were they realized?

BS: Well, I was excited to get back into it, and actually, now having done it once and seen the process, you don’t really understand it fully until you see how all the work leads up to what the movie is. It’s just a strange thing; you come in and out and in and out…

CR: First of all, no one knew what was going on.

BS: Yeah, it was a real exploratory process. So the second one was much smoother and more fun because you could picture where it was all going.

CR: It seemed like we worked six or seven years on the first one, and when they finally showed me a movie, it was like, “I guess I had something to do with that. I guess I’m in that.” You don’t even remember doing the lines, it took so long.

BS: It’s true. It’s really strange. But the second one was really fun.

IH: What I love about this franchise is the suspended belief; you can lose yourself in these animals and allow them to bring up a mirror on the things that really are important and things that are not. What buttons does it push inside of you, because there are always messages in these films…?

CR: The movie is about friendship. I think both of them are about friendship…

BS: Yeah, I think that is the core of why people relate to these characters — they’re all there for each other, they’re all unique individuals, and they are really well-drawn characters.

IH: Poor Marty was not unique — that was his problem.

CR: Much like my problems in Hollywood. People confuse me and Kadeem Hardison all the time. Da-wayne. What was his name? Dwayne Wayne (his character in A Different World)?

IH: Yeah, that was it. Do you do the voices for all the zebras?

CR: Yeah, I’m all the zebras.

IH: We were commenting about this long election season and you gave the best line ["It's pretty simple. I'm going to go with the guy who has the one house, because in this economy, the guy with one house try and keep his one house so he's not homeless"].

CR: Really? Thank you.

IH: Would you guys come on board for Madagascar 3?

CR: If Ben’s in, I’m in, because I want to see Ben direct the next one.

IH: Where do you see these characters going? Jada [Pinkett Smith] said she wanted to go to India…

BS: Yeah, India. [To Chris] You were pitching Australia.

CR: I was pitching Australia. If you’ve been to both, you’ll pick Australia too.

BS: I think it would be fun to do…just every time out, you learn more about the characters and the process, and now that we know the characters I think pretty well, we can have fun with it. And where could they go? They could go anywhere.

IH: Ultimately defining the character, who do you think comes first — the animator or you guys?

CR: I think they have a movie in mind, they pick us to do the voices, but I think the characters are pretty well thought-out. If they don’t get us, they’ll get somebody.

Ben Stiller at the green carpet (Getty Images)

 

IH: Do the characters look like you guys to you?

BS: Well, I definitely think they have aspects of expressions and looks and things. I don’t quite understand how they put that into it. I think what’s great is that they’re sort of like their own characters too, but they get like hand gestures or looks or things like that. They’re always filming you when they record you too — they are always videotaping you.

CR: They kind of look like us if being drawn by some guy at an amusement park.

IH: When doing your lines, how many options do you give them?

BS: A lot. I mean, I like to do it a few times and, depending on the scene, if it’s an emotional scene, it’s different. But sometimes, if it’s jokes or ideas for a scene, you’re trying to figure stuff out and you do a lot.

CR: I’ve got a four-take rule in my contract.

BS: Oh really? It’s kind of like you just get rolling in there and you try stuff.

IH: And you get immediate playback, I assume…

BS: No, we never get a playback, I never get a playback.

IH: Did you enjoy doing the West Side Story thing?

BS: It was fun. I did a little of that, but luckily it was animated…

IH: How well do you think your character would do on Dancing with the Stars?

BS: Better than I would do because I’m not coordinated that way. It’s an interesting thing — it’s fun to see that stuff when you see it animated when you’re a part of it, because that’s really where the animation — they have so much fun with it. And the style of this animation, which is that sort of elastic sort of Tex Avery thing…

IH: Do you wish you could record together to play off of each other?

CR: We did one session together.

BS: Yeah, which was good.

IH: Which scene?

BS: The scene where I mistake him for…

IH: Oh, okay. But is the energy different, playing with someone who is physically there versus just hearing their voice over the mic?

CR: Just being near Ben Stiller is going to slow you down.

BS: Oh, I thought you were going to say it energized you.

CR: “Okay, I’m here with Ben Stiller.” You’ve got to get over that.

BS: The time we worked together, I ended up just sort of watching Chris improvise and just started feeling intimidated because he was coming up with so many funny lines. You actually get used to being alone, I think, because you do have freedom to try things and be bad and not worry, because I think you do want to impress your friend when you’re there. And I think the energy thing — you kind of get used to that when you go in. Also, a lot of times, you have another actor there just to read lines with you — very good actors who they bring in, but then, for me, it’s always exciting when I see the scene cut together and you’re actually in it.

CR: I had Ralph Macchio read my lines.

BS: Oh, nice. I actually had Kadeem Hardison. But it is fun because, when you then hear it with Chris in it, it’s like, “Oh, that’s actually funny.” It’s exciting.

IH: Which scene did you guys look at your characters and think, “Oh, that is me! They’ve captured me really well”?

CR: I haven’t seen the movie in a month.

IH: I saw a Zoolander moment. [Laughs]

BS: I think they put in a little Zoolander. I do think that they incorporate aspects of who we are into the animation, but the great thing is that it just sort of stands on its own too.

IH: Do you two feel that, when people are just talking to you, they’re expecting something from you other than who you are right now today?

CR: I try to give the people some laughs, you know? There’s microphones here. [Laughs]

BS: Yeah, that’s the thing. You can’t argue with the fact that we’re all sitting around here and people like to laugh and have a good time. It would probably be more fun and we’d all get through this 20-minute thing or whatever it is. [Laughs] It would all be more fun if we’re all laughing and having a good time, and we’re usually the guys who you look to to keep it light and fun. There’s always that unspoken thing. If we came in and were really serious and gave you monosyllabic answers, it would probably not be what you were looking for. So there is that slight undercurrent of that.

CR: Yeah, it’s like that movie that Leo [DiCaprio] and Russell [Crowe] just did…

BS: Body of Lies…

CR: I haven’t seen the movie, but I don’t want to see the junket! [Laughs]

IH: Or any junket with Keanu Reeves…where he’s lying on the floor…. [Laughs]

CR: I’ll see the movie tonight just for that.

IH: Are you ever amazed at the impact you have on people? When O.J. was in the high-speed chase, you were in a comedy club in D.C. and you came onstage and told us….

CR: I’d come offstage, “Thank you. Goodnight.” There’s a TV right there and I’m like, “Oh shit. O.J.’s in a high-speed chase.” I go back to the mic and start, like, narrating the high-speed chase to the audience. They’re like, “No, you’re joking.” I’m like, “No, look.”

IH: Do you have a moment that you feel like you are a catalyst for some people, certain times?

BS: Well, I don’t dwell on that. I respect it when people come up to me and say, “Oh, I really like that,” or “That made me laugh.” You can tell when someone is genuinely feeling something, and I really respect that. I feel great about that, but I don’t go around thinking I’m connecting with the culture. For me, I have to put myself in the place of the person because I would be the guy, like, “Whatever.” I’m just me. But I always appreciate it when I see something that I connect with and that means a lot to me, but it’s hard to put myself in that place. I don’t want to go, “Hey, ooooooh.” Boy, that was articulate. [Laughs]

IH: I always have an expectation of you because I used to watch your parents. Your parents took chances. They used to be on the Flip Wilson show, and they would do all those shows that, back then, were sort of risky, so I always have an expectation of you to do something edgy or different because you grew up with parents like the ones you have (Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara).

BS: For sure, yeah. Their whole act, a lot of it was based on their cultural differences; dad was Jewish, mom was Irish Catholic, and they’d go on The Ed Sullivan Show. I just think of the pressure of that. They went on like 30 times with like 40 million people watching. Everybody would watch one show. And he had to invite you back next week, and every day you went on there was an audition. I can’t even imagine the pressure. So I really respect them for what they do.

Chris Rock at the premiere (Getty Images)

 

IH: Who excites you guys? Is there someone out there who you’re still excited to meet or work with?

BS: Yeah, sure. There are a lot of people that I’m just a fan of, like Sacha Baron Cohen.

CR: Sacha, totally.

BS: I’m blown away by what he does. He’s funny in a way that no one else is funny, and he’s doing it in a real world setting. I feel like nobody else can approach that even.

CR: I’d love to work with Sacha, and Ricky Gervais, Eddie Murphy…something meaty with Murph.

IH: Did you guys get to work with Bernie Mac on this?

BS: I didn’t, no. I did my scenes separately, but I heard a bunch of the scenes as we were going along. I’d see them edited together and he is amazing in the movie, and it’s really sad. I feel bad that I never got a chance to talk to him about it because he brings so much heart and warmth to the movie.

IH: Is it a technical reason why you can’t record together?

BS: I don’t know. It’s sort of the way the animators like to have the freedom, I think.

CR: Anybody that’s from animation probably doesn’t like to deal with actors anyway. “Let’s deal with as few actors at a time as possible.”

BS: That’s probably what it is.

IH: If you are going to do another one of these films, what do you wish they would let Alex do and what do you, Chris, wish they’d let Marty do?

CR: I don’t know. A little cross-dressing? I don’t know.

BS: Oh gosh. I don’t know.

CR: I think it’s time for Alex to direct.

BS: Alex should direct?

CR: Yeah.

BS: And get really full of himself, yeah.

IH: Do you think they should go back to the zoo? They are free now. Why are they so anxious to get back to New York?

BS: It would be interesting if they get back to the zoo and they don’t really like it anymore because they’ve outgrown it. Hmmmm.

IH: Then how do they get back out?

BS: I don’t know.

IH: Are you directing now?

BS: Not right now. I’m trying to figure out what’s next.

IH: Just hanging out with your family during the holidays?

BS: Yes, and going around the world with this for a little bit.