“I screwed it up”. Ben Stiller embarrassed himself in front of Steven Spielberg, pushing boundaries on set
Ben Stiller recounted the most embarrassing moment of his life, which took place in front of Steven Spielberg himself on the set of Empire of the Sun.
Ben Stiller has scored a good start. Already the second film with his participation was a production directed by Steven Spielberg. The actor had an small role in Empire of the Sun, but the opportunity to star in a movie by such a filmmaker was certainly more important to him than the size of the role that came his way.
Stiller, by the way, even though he had a small role, still made sure to draw attention to himself on the set, although the way he did it, he says, embarrassed him. The actor, while on the Late Night with Seth Meyers program, told the story of how he embarrassed himself in front of Spielberg on the set of Empire of the Sun and got a reprimand from him when he got a little flustered after making a mistake.
While uttering the line, he made a mistake, and in order to stop the failed shot, he shouted: “Cut!”. Stiller recounted that in order to repeat the scene, he crossed the line and embarrassed himself.
After like three or four minutes of this shot, and I say my line. I’m supposed to say, “Hey, kid, would you like a Hershey bar?” And I screwed it up, and I said, “Hey, kid, would you like a chocolate bar?” And then I went, “Oh, damn. I’m sorry. Cut.” And then silence. I just hear, from out where the monitors are, “What?” [I said] “I’m sorry, I screwed up my line.” And then I hear Steven Spielberg say, “You never yell cut!” And of course, my hero, my idol, I’m realizing I just did the most embarrassing thing ever. So, it worked out fine.
The actor entered the director's “territory,” deciding for him when a scene is stopped. So Spielberg told Stiller to never do it again, which the actor apparently learned a lesson from, since he still remembers the situation itself to this day. And in addition, he still considers it the most embarrassing thing in his life.