Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn reunite in
“The Watch” along with Jonah Hill and British comedian Richard Ayoade who band
together in the film to uncover the mysterious events happening in their
neighborhood.
Ben Stiller’s Evan is a senior manager
at the superstore Costco, having made a not-so-lightning-fast ascent to that
position from assistant manager. Evan is
a dedicated employee, but his heart is with the Glenview Neighborhood Watch, of
which he is the founder and CEO. “Evan is very community-oriented,” says
Stiller, “because he has so few friends, and these clubs give him the
opportunity to meet new people.”
Evan’s straight-laced, buttoned-down
personality is a perfect fit for organizing clubs, but it’s not paying off
socially. Stiller says he found it
challenging to figure out the mindset of a man whose life is defined by a
relentless pursuit of order. “I’m not
very orderly,” explains the actor, who is currently starring in and directing
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” “It
wasn’t easy getting inside the mind of a meticulous, stoic and organized
guy.”
Regarding the role’s more physical requirements,
Stiller was comfortable with the fight scenes, where The Watch takes on the
would-be conquerors from a distant world, but less so with a scene that
required him to drive a forklift during a climactic battle. “There was lots of action captured on camera,
but driving the forklift made for some of the most frightening times on the set
– for the crew,” says the actor.
Evan’s polar opposite is Vince Vaughn’s
Bob, who is the id to Evan’s superego, the yang to his yin, and, says Schaffer,
“a fun loving family man – to the max.”
For Bob, The Watch is his fraternal Shangri-La – an escape from the
everyday responsibilities of family life.
The Watch means hanging with his new friends; enjoying some titty
magazines, dirty jokes, and beers; and saying things like, “We’re gonna tear up
shit, boys.”
“Bob is longing to hang out with the
guys, have some drinks, talk about guy stuff, and let off some steam,” says
Vaughn. And ground zero for all the
raucous fun is Bob’s tricked-out garage/man-cave and its wet bar, massage
chairs, widescreen TV, and pool table.
“Bob is a big Teddy bear of a guy,” says
Levy, who is currently directing Vaughn, along with Owen Wilson, in the comedy
“The Internship.” “He’s boisterous and
gregarious and in The Watch as much for the bromance as for the
responsibilities of ensuring his neighbors’ safety.”
The actors and filmmakers were
determined to bring an audacity and boldness to THE WATCH. “The film’s DNA doesn’t feel familiar,” notes
producer Shawn Levy (“Real Steel,” “Night at the Museum”), “so we needed a
director with a fresh sensibility and who would never play it safe.” Enter Akiva Schaffer, who directs, co-writes
and edits most of the iconic “Saturday Night Live” Digital Shorts. Says Ben
Stiller: “Akiva has a comedy chip in his
brain. He’s a genius editor and a true
child of the digital age.”
The script required a high level of
envelope-pushing. “We had a great script
from [co-screenwriter] Jared Stern, but we didn’t want to play it safe and we
were determined to make it daring and unexpected,” says Levy. Seth Rogen and his writing partner Evan
Goldberg, who had collaborated on screenplays for “Superbad” and “Pineapple
Express,” came aboard the project, and their script delved deeply into the
group’s skewed dynamics. “The alchemy of the script and Schaffer’s unique voice
felt like a really good match,” says Levy.
“This is the real thing, not only in its use of language but in its
sensibilities, which far exceed the boundaries of good taste.”
“The Watch” opens September 5 in
theaters from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.
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