- Title: Meet the Meyerowitzs: Hoffman, Stiller and Sandler seek highbrow laughs
- Date: 21st May 2017
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ACTOR DUSTIN HOFFMAN ARRIVING PHOTOGRAPHER HOFFMAN SIGNING AUTOGRAPH HOFFMAN ACTOR BEN STILLER ARRIVING DIRECTOR NOAH BAUMBACH ARRIVING ACTRESS EMMA THOMPSON AND ACTOR ADAM SANDLER CAST OF 'THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES' WALKING IN TO PRESS CONFERENCE ROOM STILLER HOST INTRODUCING SANDLER AND WELCOMING HIM BACK TO CANNES, STILLER SAYING (English): "I just think it's cool to hear 'Happy Gilmore' mentioned at Cannes." THOMPSON AND STILLER SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS EMMA THOMPSON, SAYING: "I read it and I thought I have absolutely no idea what this was going to be like, I know it's going to be fascinating but I had no idea at all, and then I thought sort of playing an American, which is quite hard, and I've got to play an alcoholic which isn't hard at all, so that was the thing probably that detracted me the most because I thought 'well I'll be able to relax about playing the American' because being drunk will make it so much easier." HOST ASKING (English): "Sorry this is water we're having today." THOMPSON SAYING: "Not in mine darling but anyway, that's your problem." VARIOUS OF STILLER AND HOFFMAN PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR BEN STILLER, SAYING: "Yeah I thought the script was beautiful, I was reading the script, I thought the first 30 or 40 pages were kind of slow, yeah my character shows up I'm 41, and then when he told me that Dustin Hoffman was auditioning to play the dad I was so excited, and we read together and there was some chemistry." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, BEN STILLER, SAYING: "I have to say all joking aside for me I never take it lightly to be ever in the presence of Dustin because first of all I just appreciate him so much as an actor, for me growing up he was such an important actor, in terms of what I wanted to do, watching him, being inspired by him." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR DUSTIN HOFFMAM SAYING: "I resent people saying that they grew up with my... Everyone who's older than me can you please stand up. Actually when I read the script I passed on it, I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to play an old man, I thought I was perfect for either of their (Stiller or Sandler's) parts, and my son Jake talked me into doing this." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS, JOURNALIST CAN BE HEARD CONGRATULATING CAST ON THEIR "INTERESTING" MOVIE, HOFFMAN SAYING (English): "That's not a good word." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR DUSTIN HOFFMAN SAYING: "You really didn't like it did you?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR DUSTIN HOFFMAN SAYING: "As far as the big screen, I have a very big screen." (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR NOAH BAUMBACH SAYING: "It's going to play in Dustin Hoffman's living room, so it'll be fine." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR NOAH BAUMBACH SAYING: "I made this movie as I made all my movies, with the expectation that it will be shown on the big screen and because I believe in that and you know I think it's a unique and singular experience that is not going away in my opinion." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS / (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR ADAM SANDLER SAYING: "That fight scene was rougher than I wanted it to be, Ben has a more solid body than I was expecting, he wasn't easy to move." HOFFMAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR ADAM SANDLER SAYING: "I had one of the biggest bruises I've ever had in my life on my arm and that was by take 34, I was saying to Ben, right here it hurts me a lot if you could start the fight off in the middle of the chest here that would help me, and then Noah would call action and I'd be like 'I don't think he heard me', straight to the bruise again." JOURNALIST WITH LAST NAME 'HOFFMAN' ASKING QUESTION / HOFFMAN SAYING (English): "Can you turn sideways I just want to look at your nose." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR BEN STILLER SAYING: "It was that press tour 25 years ago, I think it was 'Hook'." JOURNALIST SAYING (English): "Many people in Argentina ask me if we are related and of course I say yes." VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE ENDING
- Embargoed: 4th June 2017 13:12
- Keywords: Adam Sandler Ben Stiller Dustin Hoffman The Meyerowitz Stories
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE
- City: CANNES, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0016HS63PP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ben Stiller returns to the screen as Dustin Hoffman's son, this time alongside half-brother Adam Sandler in an intellectual comedy that Hoffman hopes audiences will find funny rather than just "interesting".
"The Meyerowitz Stories", which screened at Cannes on Sunday (May 21), is written and directed by Noah Baumbach, whose dialogue-heavy New York movies are often compared to mid-career Woody Allen. This is no "Meet the Fockers".
About the fractured relations between Hoffman's four-times married almost-famous sculptor and his offspring, "Meyerowitz" is a long way from the knockabout comedies that Sandler and Stiller are best known for.
Hoffman, who soared to fame in "The Graduate" in 1967, said he resented people telling him they grew up with his movies.
When a journalist prefaced her question by congratulating the filmmakers on an "interesting" film, Hoffman chipped in: "That's not a good word ... you really didn't like it!"
But the movie got plenty of laughs at the press screening and the first reviews were good.
A Netflix film, one of two in competition at Cannes, "Meyerowitz" will not get a full cinema release, something that has caused controversy at the film festival where jury head Pedro Almodovar said he did not think a film not shown on the big screen should get a Palme d'Or.
Baumbach, who said he made "Meyerowitz" to be shown in cinemas, joked that the movie would be screened in Hoffman's living room, which, the actor said, had "a very big screen". - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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