Ben Stiller Shares How He Screwed up a Scene While Shooting Steven Spielberg's EMPIRE OF THE SUN

Before Ben Stiller became the big star and filmmaker that he is, one of the first big movie roles he landed was in Steven Spielberg’s 1987 film Empire of the Sun. This is actually one of my favorite Spielberg movies and it has an impressive cast that also includes Christian Bale, John Malcovich, and Joe Pantoliano.

During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Stiller talked about his experience of landing the role and how Spielberg asked him to lose some weight. Apparently, Stiller went too far and when he showed up on set Spielberg thought he was sick. The actor recalled:

“He basically cast me in the movie and he said ‘I think you’d be great for this part. Do you think you could lose some weight because you’re supposed to be in a prison camp.’ So I showed up at the set. I had lost about 28 pounds and he looked at me and he said, ‘Are you OK?’ and I said, ‘You told me to lose weight. You’re Steven Spielberg.”’

Stiller only had a small role in the movie and he only had a few lines. But, while shooting one of these scenes, he screwed up one of his lines and yelled cut, which Spielberg didn’t seem happy about.

Stiller explains that there was a long Steadicam shot that follows Bale as he comes back into the barracks. At one point in this shot, Stiller is then supposed to offer the kid a Hershey bar, but he ended up saying the line wrong. He said:

“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. Then, I just hear out from where the monitors are ‘What?’ and I was like ‘I’m sorry. I screwed up my line’ and then I hear Steven Spielberg say ‘You never yell cut!’”

That would be rough. Being an up-and-coming actor working with Steven Spielberg and messing up like that. I can only imagine that it was quite an embarrassing moment. He got through it though and his career ended up being just fine. It’s ok to make mistakes!

If you’ve never seen Empire of the Sun, the movie tells the true story of Jamie Graham (Bale), “a privileged English boy, who is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor named Basie (Malkovich), who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirits, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.”

You should watch this movie if you haven’t already seen it!