In love with life

Ben Stiller talks about his love for details ahead of While We’re Young

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While We’re Youngtalks about the differences between two generations. At what point in your life did you realise you were all grown up and didn’t belong to the younger generation anymore?

That moment for me was when I realised that I was only listening to Beastie Boys. ( Laughs ) No, really. You start to realise that you’re getting older when you can’t keep up with the latest trends in music. That started years ago, when I began realising that I wasn’t tuned in to new types of music. I try, but it’s too much work.

I think I also grew up after having kids, when I realised how important it was to stop thinking about myself always.

What are your thoughts about the impact of technology on human relationships today?

I think there are both good and bad aspects to technology. I’m currently shooting on location, so to be able to FaceTime and Skype with my kids is amazing. But on the other hand, it’s easy to hide behind texting and not have human interaction at all. In fact, a lot of kids today don’t even talk to each other over the phone. Texting, to them, is talking. It’s not to say I know much of what the kids are up to these days, of course. ( Laughs )

The film shows that people take after other people. The documentary in the film, for instance, takes its most significant elements from Darby’s (Amanda Seyfried) life. How real is the documentary then?

That’s a really deep question. I don’t know — I think Josh in the movie is more concerned about truth in his work and cinema. I think that all art is based on other art to a certain extent. But this idea has been going on for a while, especially with reality television. People want to be entertained, and I think documentaries can actually tell you the truth while also being able to draw you in. But as you ask, where is that line between reality and entertainment? I don’t know — I’m not a documentarian. Great documentarians know how to fashion a story to make it dramatic and truthful.

How was it working with the director, Noah Baumbach, again, after Greenberg ?

I think he has a great way of illuminating little details — about interactions and about life in general. He knows what it truly means to live life. While it’s true that such experiences don’t translate into movies often, Noah manages to find drama in these little moments. That’s why I find his projects so interesting. As an actor, you can relate to the experiences he talks about.

There’s that running joke in the movie that Jamie’s never picking up his check.

Such moments seem so dramatic and big in real life, and you are left thinking about such things for the rest of the night.

While Greenberg was set in L.A., this film is set in New York. How did that affect the shooting?

The shooting experiences in the cities are very different. Greenberg had a more laid-back atmosphere about it. But both films had small crews that worked in a focussed way. Just like he captured L.A.’s energy in Greenberg , he captures the spirit of New York in this film.