Ben Stiller in "Tropic of Thunder."
(Merie Weismiller/Paramount Pictures)The first movie he shot was Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart."
"My dad was the man with the evil eye and who gets chopped up in the bathtub," Stiller said.
"I was working on some issues, I don't know. He played along, he was great. We got him a night shirt, and a night cap, and we got him in a carriage in Central Park."
Stiller got his start directing feature films with Helen Childress' "Reality Bites" script. Along with Ethan Hawke and Winona Ryder, Stiller directed longtime friend Janeane Garofalo.
"Well, I mean, I think being a director, your job is to bring the best out of the actors that you are working with," he said. "Every actor is different and needs a different kind of direction and, yeah, I don't think I was really good at telling Janeane what to do. I don't think anybody should tell Janeane what to do, she knows what to do."
But he was an actor, only, for the most significant movie of his career: the memorably raunchy 1998 comedy "There's Something About Mary."
"It was taking some chances and it wasn't worrying about being politically correct, but it also had a relatable story and the character," he said. "I think that was the first time you were seeing that, at least with that tone of humor, you know, going that far."
Like "There's Something About Mary," "Tropic Thunder" includes some blisteringly profane language and R-rated gags, which Stiller said is just part of the genre.
"There's a freedom saying, 'hey, it should just be what it is.' I mean, I don't know. I feel like people know what they are getting into if they come into an R-rated movie," he said.
One of the people dropping swear words is Tom Cruise. Years earlier, Stiller had cut short his honeymoon to do a short film in which he played Cruise's "Mission: Impossible" stunt double.
"We both had a good time doing that," Stiller said. "I think, after that, we kind of stayed in touch."
Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News.
