Ben Stiller gets candid about acting comeback with 'Nutcrackers'

Ben Stiller made his return to acting in Nutcrackers after seven years of hiatus, and the actor has revealed what made him take up acting again.

Stiller has been busy the past few years with directing, making the 2018 prison-break miniseries Escape at Dannemora and then Severance, a workplace sci-fi thriller that was released to critical acclaim in 2022.

However, filming for the second season of Severance was halted in 2023 due to the actors and writers strikes, Stiller became available for Nutcrackers since it’s an indie film.

Speaking about acting, Stiller told Variety, “I never thought I’d take this much time away from acting. It wasn’t intentional; it was just how things evolved.”

“This movie happened in a zone where it was literally the only time I could have made it,” said the Zoolander star. “A few months later, and I couldn’t have done it.”

In Nutcrackers, Stiller plays a workaholic real estate developer who has to step up for his nephews after they become orphaned. The low-budget movie was filmed on director David Gordon Green’s pal Karey Williams’ farm in Ohio. The movie stars Williams’ own four sons as Stiller’s character’s unruly nephews.

Green recalled asking the Night at the Museum star to star in the movie: “When I called Ben, I said, ‘I hope you don’t have any allergies, because there’s every imaginable animal running around here.’ And bring old shoes, because you’re going to be stepping in shit.”

Ben Stiller starring Nutcrackers is set to premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.