Ben Stiller Talks About Night at the Museum 2

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 4, 2008

With Tropic Thunder ready to storm into theaters and reassure Ben Stiller’s position on top of the world, what does one of comedy’s most sought after talents do next? Well, for starters, you knock out a sequel to 2006’s monster hit Night at the Museum. Then you get together with Cameron Crowe for an as of yet untitled project.

In Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, Stiller promises things are going to be bigger and better than ever. A lot of the cast returns, including Steve Coogan (Octavius), Owen Wilson (Jedediah), Robin Williams (Theodore Roosevelt) and Ricky Gervais (Dr. McPhee) in addition to a nice collection of new co-stars. Stiller was very excited as he described the film:

We have a much broader palette, because it takes place at the Smithsonian, so there’s a bunch of different museums we get in and out of like the Air and Space musuem and the art galleries, we go into paintings and stuff. … And then there’s just this incredible ensemble cast … we also have new people like Christopher Guest, and Hank Azaria, Amy Adams. So it’s really been fun because it’s a lot less lonely than the first one.

Stiller also commented on the use of more CGI this time around to accomplish some ambitious goals like going in and out of paintings and photographs and having statues like The Thinker and The Lincoln Memorial come to life. IMDb lists Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart, Azaria as Kah Mun Rah, and Christopher Guest as Ivan the Terrible and also has Bill Hader down for the role of General George Custer.

While he was tight-lipped about what it might be or what it would eventually be called, Stiller did mention he was very excited to work with Cameron Crowe in the near future on a dramatic comedy. Other than that, he said, he was looking forward to taking it a little easier and hadn’t planned anything else.

I thought Night at the Museum was a fun flick and the sequel sounds like its going to up the fun factor a little bit and dive deeper into history. Stay tuned for more news and updates as we get them.

Excited for another Night at the Museum? Favorite Ben Stiller moment?

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