BEN Stiller talks about voicing the part of Alex the lion for animated sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, why he appears to be the busiest man in Hollywood right now and how he might cope alone in the wilderness…

Q. How much has your involvement in these films raised the kudos you have at home with your kids?
Ben Stiller: My kids aren’t really impressed by it. I think they just enjoy the movies as the movies. I think adults respond more to who’s in it.

Q. Having played both roles twice… who do you feel you know better, Alex The Lion or Greg Focker [from Meet The Parents]? And who do you have the most in common with?
Ben Stiller: Well, I guess… hmmm. Every part you play you have something in common with. Alex is a New Yorker and he’s an actor, sort of. Greg Focker’s just like a guy trying to do the right thing and getting into trouble [laughs]. Honestly, I got to know Alex more second time around as a character because it was such an exploration the first time. We did it over a number of years and tried to figure it out. So, the second time, having seen the finished movie and seeing what the animation looked like with the voice in your mind, then you have something in your mind that you could go off of. I just felt like I knew him better. It was more fun, the second one.

Q. Did you actually get the chance to work with the late Bernie Mac [who voices Zuba, Alex’s father in the movie]?
Ben Stiller: I didn’t. I think he’s amazing in the movie. He gives it such warmth and weight. He was not only a really great comedic actor, but also a really good actor and he brings that to this movie. I heard some of the edited versions of our scenes as we were going along and that helped me. But we never got chance to work together.

Q. Have you ever suggested any ideas for other characters?
Ben Stiller: When you see the movie, or the versions of it as it’s going along, you can make suggestions and I think it’s welcome. It’s a really collaborative process in terms of how the movies are made. But usually I’m looking at it from my own character’s point of view. Also, most of the stuff that you do is just your own stuff. So you’re focusing on that.

Q. How would you cope with being in the wilderness?
Ben Stiller: I have no idea, honestly, because I’ve never really had to spend any time out in the wilderness by myself… yet. I would hope that I’d try to remember everything that I’ve seen on Survivor!

Q. Is the film ever a surprise to you guys once you see what the penguins are up to and what other actors may have said?
Ben Stiller: Yeah, it is for me for sure because when you see the finished product it’s definitely… you’ve been working on your part most of the time and you never see most of the animation. Sometimes you see storyboards… but then you see everything come together and just feel it. You’ve been working on it for something like two and a half, or three years, you come in and out, and then you see it and it’s a 90-minute thing that kids are laughing at and enjoying. So, it’s really different to most movies. You usually see rough cuts and so you know it pretty well.

Q. You seem to be the busiest man in Hollywood at the moment. Is that actually the case?
Ben Stiller: I’ve worked a lot. We’ve been working on this movie on and off since the last one. So, it was always going to come out when it did. Other than that, I was working on Tropic Thunder for the last year and a half. I finished that and did Night At The Museum 2, and then I finished that and that’s it.

Q. But are you always writing new stuff when you’re working on other projects?
Ben Stiller: Yeah, I like to do that and I like to make movies. But certain movies take a long time. Tropic Thunder, for instance, I was working on for about nine or 10 years to get it to the place where it was able to be made. But I don’t know what I’m doing next. I don’t have anything lined up. I take time off when I want to. And I think it’s a balance. You have to balance what’s good for you. In terms of releases of movies and things like that, sometimes you just can’t control that. This movie was always going to come out in November 2008 and who knows what you’re going to be doing earlier that might coincide with that.

Q. There’s a theme in the film about success not always living up to expectation. Could you look back on your career and remember a time when you felt something similar?
Ben Stiller: You’ve got to find balance in your life. When you start off as an actor you take the jobs that you get… you just take any jobs. And if you’re lucky enough to get to the point where you have options, then it’s about choices and figuring that out. For me, it’s been a learning process.

Read our review of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

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