Talk:Ben Stiller

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What is a "Hollywood lifestyle"? Are you accusing Stiller and Meara of drug use and wife-swapping? Just what does this mean? -- Zoe

God no. A "hollywood lifestyle" is the product of sloppy writing. I just meant that he saw a lot of famous people coming through, and his parents had a lot of friends.  :-) I'll go rewrite. --KQ
Oh, good. You had me worried.  :-) -- Zoe

Where does that qoute (sic.) to “Michael Mann” come from? It seems weird that Stiller would dismiss the biggest success of his career in the year - month! - of release. Source it or remove it. Scott197827 5th Nov 2005

Contents

[edit] Pictures

This article needs more pictures.User:alfredosolis

Why are there pictures throughout the article, but not a main picture at the top right? That seems the most logical, and the place that the majority of the actor pages place a picture. C. Kilpatrick (talk) 05:52, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Because for biographies, only free images can be included in the infobox. Movie screenshots or promotional images can not be included. The best thing to do is to search the web and ask an author of an image of Stiller if they are willing to release the image into the public domain so that we can use it on Wikipedia. Until that happens, there will continue to be no image in the infobox. --Nehrams2020 (talk) 06:14, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Personal

Why is this section separate form biography? someone who is more familiar with stiller's history needs to incorporate this section into stiller's biography and expand his history a little. Shaggorama 09:40, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ethnicity/Religion

How can a connection between Stiller and Austria be recognized ""Category:Austrian-Americans" --Dieter Zoubek (talk) 20:45, 11 January 2008 (UTC)


Someone seems particularly interested in defining Stiller's background as being non-Jewish. Stiller has never claimed to be Roman Catholic, although he does admit to being non-practicing as a Jew. Prior to his parents' marriage, his mother (Anne Meara) converted to Judiasm. Both he and his sister attended Hebrew school and he was bar mitzvahed. From a September 1999 article about Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara:

Their children went to Jewish schools, studied Hebrew and their son, Ben Stiller, had a Bar Mitzvah. "Where they take their lives religiously is entirely up to them of course, but at least they know where Anne and I stand in terms of our background. It was more Anne than anyone else who said, 'I want my kids to be brought up Jewish.' So I had a very wonderful, easy kind of situation. I never asked Anne to convert to Judaism; she did it voluntarily." [1]

--LeFlyman 00:38, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Is his bloodline Hebrew/Jewish? Or just his beliefs? Lord Of Nothing 13:42, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

  • "Bloodline?" Rather an oddly phrased question (tinged with racialism) to pose. Please re-read the above paragraph and take a look at the bio for his father, Jerry Stiller. —LeflymanTalk 17:34, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

but is ben stiller officially jewish? Dr.Poison 12:16, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure what "officially Jewish" means, as there is no "official" prescription for Jewishness. If you are wondering whether he is considered Jewish by past rabbinical authorities, the answer is yes. He'd also be welcomed under Israel's Law of Return. See: Who is a Jew?—LeflymanTalk 23:56, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

I mean that does he staites that he is jewish? I don't know if USA have a system of registration of religion. Dr.Poison 05:38, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
  • As for Stiller's Jewishness, I don't know how I can clarify it more than I have. Again, please re-read the quote at the top of this section, or see this article (which presents the same information). There is no "system of registration of religion" in the US. In fact, requesting or requiring such information for employment is generally illegal. See Lemon Test and Title VII and 42 US Code Chapter 21. —LeflymanTalk 03:08, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
Ok, I understand. Dr.Poison 07:13, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia

Why was the "Phil Stiller, referee" thing removed from the trivia area? I thought it was interesting! --Phil Stiller

I'm sure it's 'cause it's 1) unverifiable; 2) not-notable. Sorry. —LeflymanTalk 02:32, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

I guess I can't take issue with the "non-notable" part! -PS

Dudes, the trivia note on Ben Stiller "just walking past" in the Tenacious D video is hopeless. The only reason he walks past as a cameo is that in that music video he plays the major role of THE DEMON!!!!! Go back and check the video. His demon character is awesome.

i'm pretty sure the demon character is played by Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters fame.

[edit] Taylor Information

  • Jack Johnson's music video, "Taylor," in which he runs over a chicken.

There's a longer version, nothing to do with running over chickens, Stiller plays the director of the music video and interrupts Johnson several times to correct things with the filming. At one point, he trails off into a daydream of himself surfing, the whole thing's pretty funny. I'll add that in unless I shouldn't, but I can't see why not, it should be on YouTube if anybody's unsure. Goroliath

[edit] GA nomination

Good evening (GMT time); as of 13/1/07 I have failed this article under the GA Criteria on the following grounds:

  • 1) (a) It has compelling prose, and is readily comprehensible to non-specialist readers - "Emmy-winning", "Frat-pack", (#Directional Debut) "VH1 Fashion Awards" and "MTV".
  • 4) (a) Viewpoints are represented fairly and without bias - "...In a 1999 interview with GQ and later in a 2001 interview with Hollwood.com, Stiller revealed that he had bipolar disorder, an illness he said that ran in his family. In two interviews in November and December 2006 he claimed that he did not have the disorder and that it all been a misunderstanding. In one interview he said: 'I said jokingly in GQ that I was, like, crazy, and it came out as: Ben Stiller, bipolar manic-depressive!'..."

I believe this statement does not conform to WP:NPOV.

Therefore, I have chosen to fail the article. If you believe that I am incorrect in failing it, please contact me at my talk page, or seek a review. Well done for your contributions to date, and do not be discouraged - you have done good work on this article...it is just that a little more is needed. Lastly, if you wish to seek a wider view of the article, feel free to seek a Peer review.

Cheers and regards,
Anthonycfc [T • C] 19:17, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA review, please clarify

Why is the list called "Selected filmography" when it contains several unnotable films that don't even have articles on Wikipedia, and/or had Stiller only playing small parts (such as "Tony Robbins-style character")?

It is also my opinion that the fair use images featured in the section "Comedy career" do not qualify as fair use, because according to the fair use criteria that is inside the fair use template, those kind of screenshots are to be used "for identification and critical commentary on the film and its contents", which I don't see this article doing. You should consider this for now; I will compare how other articles do it before giving my final say.

Fred-Chess 00:31, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I added the films within the filmography as they are described above in his film career and there is also mention of his multiple cameos, which some of his later films (that currently have no articles) are listed and I have also included his earliest films to show how his film career started. Although some of these do not have articles as of yet, it is possible that they will in the future. It is still called selected filmography since not every single one his films is included, just some of the more notable ones. For the screenshots, I added them, as currently many of the other GA actors/actresses have screenshots with similar fair use rationales. It says the film and its contents, and I'd assume that the actor within the film would be included. I have attempted to search the fair use rationale page with no success in it declaring that actors cannot have screenshots on their pages. The screenshots depict Stiller in two important roles in his career and both do have fair use rationales. If you still think that the filmography needs to be changed, let me know and I'll rework it. However, I do think that the screenshots should remain in accordance to similar articles. Thanks for reviewing the article. --Nehrams2020 04:46, 20 January 2007 (UTC)
I buy your explanation to the movies in the selected list. But I don't buy it for the images -- Wikipedia:Fair use#Policy #8 says that fair use images should contribute significantly to the article and not just serve illustrative purposes. I do not consider the images, as they are used in this article, contribute significantly to the article.
There are other issues with the article that could be improved. This includes the lead section, that could be significantly improved as per WP:LEAD. Talking about the lead, have you intended to contiuously keep updating the sentence of Stiller's most recent role. And are you also planning the same for the section entitled "Upcoming work"?
Another point I'd like to raise is that it should be possible to expand significantly on the article, including more biographical details, with quotes from notable people in the business, etc. Other information is of trivia-character and should preferably be integrated into the bography, such as his comedy career inspiration.
Despite this, I am still considering granting it GA status, because my concerns are not that crucial. I'll just give you a chance to comment first.
Fred-Chess 20:53, 20 January 2007 (UTC)
No problem, I appreciate your efforts. I kept the pictures in accordance to silmilar GAs with screenshots such as Kevin Spacey, Sean Bean, Natalie Portman, Emma Roberts, and also Drew Carey/Samuel L. Jackson which I helped to get passed to GA before. I do watch the page everyday and remove images without fair use and ones that are added inappropriately. For the lead section and upcoming work, I will be watching it very closely, just as I watch the Samuel L. Jackson page. I update it based on upcoming films, revealed roles, and involvement with other industries. I even have news alerts in news.google.com for the two actors so I can always keep up to date on new information. For the biography details, there is a biography book that is due for release in a few months that will reveal more about his earlier life which I will include as soon as I get my hands on it. I will always be seeking to improve the article as new details arise and I find new sources. I was fortunate for him to have a new film released, allowing for multiple interviews about his career. At this point right now, I feel it reaches GA, and I will continue to keep improving it to reinforce its GA if it's passed. --Nehrams2020 00:54, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Personal section

The Personal section, which I renamed Personal life, contains some trivial information. I don't know if his height, snack preferences, and if he's right or left-handed is encyclopedic information. Aaron Bowen 23:08, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

I would say that height and whether he's left or right handed would be encyclopedic, but favorite snack foods are not. Also, given that the intro paragraph pretty much lists everything he's every been in, I'm gonna trim it to just his best known work. ryanopolisdrew 19:28, 27 October 2007