Comedian Ben Stiller has made a lot of laughs with his projects like Meet the parents And Dodgeball. But as funny as he was, he felt he might have finally met his match by teaming up with Chris Rock.
Ben Stiller and Chris Rock improvised in ‘Madagascar’
Stiller and Rock reunited for the animated series Madagascar. One of the reasons Rock loved doing the movies was because he teamed up with Stiller himself.
“It came back with Ben. We had fallen,” Rock told Collider.
Stiller agreed and shared that watching Rock’s work was one of his favorite parts of doing the movies.
“Honestly I was impressed with Chris because we once worked together and I love him in the movie, apart from being a friend of his I find the character of Marty really fun. Watching Chris do his studio stuff was fun. He riffs really well and has fun with it,” Stiller said.
The two comedians would also improvise while working together. But Stiller felt Rock shamed him when it came to getting out of the script.
“Chris and I had to improvise together a few times and were able to go into the booth a few times, because usually you’re alone,” Stiller said according to Female First. “Chris is great. It’s kind of depressing to record with him because he comes up with all these fun things and my character is like, ‘Ha ha, yeah…’”
Chris Rock called Ben Stiller the ‘Jude Law’ of comedy while working with him on ‘Madagascar’
Rock felt that the second Madagascar, Escape 2 Africa, was funnier than its predecessor. But Rock personally made sure the sequel would be a better movie by working more closely with Stiller than he did in the original.
“Me and Ben made a point of doing some of our scenes together this time thinking it would be a lot funnier. Not that the first one wasn’t funny enough, but if we were in the same room, we could bounce off each other and it would work differently It worked when I did this bee-movie with Jerry Seinfeld. We did all of our scenes together and I wanted to do the same with Ben,” Rock said according to Black Film.
Teaming up with Stiller was also fun for Rock since he dubbed his co-star the Jude Law of comedy movies.
“As Jude Law is into everything, Ben Stiller is into all the fun things. And they’re all funny. I like Dodgeball. I do. I liked it Polly movie too,” Rock said.
It wasn’t the first time Rock singled out Law. The comedian once spoke about Law’s prevalence in movies while hosting the Oscars.
“You want Tom Cruise and all you can get is Jude Law? Who is Jude Law? Why is he in every movie I’ve seen in the past four years? He’s in everything,” Rock said according to The Hollywood Reporter. “He is in everything. He’s gay, he’s straight, he’s American, he’s British – next year he’ll play Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a movie.
Chris Rock and Ben Stiller Almost Lost Confidence in Their ‘Madagascar’ Sequel
Although the first Madagascar the film was a success, the continuation was not guaranteed. Eventually, Stiller and Rock wondered if a second film would become a reality.
“We saw the first one, and we know where it’s headed,” Stiller told The Oklahoman. “The first time, we were both like, ‘They tell us there’s going to be a movie, we take their word for it, and they say it’ll be in four years.’ You almost start to lose faith at some point.
But Stiller and Rock’s faith in the film paid off, with the series spawning a blockbuster franchise comprising five blockbuster films.
