Watch Ben Stiller's Wild Screen Test For ENCINO MAN

Before Brendan Fraser was officially cast in the role of Link in the classic 1992 comedy Encino Man, the producers were looking at possibly casting Ben Stiller in the role.

He auditioned for filmmakers Les Mayfield and George Zaloom and even shot a screen test for them. That screen test has now surfaced online for you to watch and it’s super fun and interesting to see what his take on the character was like, and while it’s funny seeing him play Link, Fraser was definitely the better choice.

Mayfield talked about Stiller’s audition, saying that he “demonstrated the potential of the character and he was absolutely fantastic.” Zaloom went on to expand on Stiller being great, and how they had also seen Fraser around the same time, saying, “He was even screen-tested. And he did a really good job. But at some point, we had seen Brendan. Brendan just nailed it.”

When talking about the screen test Mayfield added that Stiller “came in for free and did this film test and just kicked ass. He showed us where this character could go.” But, in the end, they needed to tell Stiller that he wasn’t the guy. Zaloom shared, “It was hard to tell Ben that we didn’t want him. I kind of wish that didn’t happen.”

Watch the screen test below and let us know what you think!