Fox screens ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ footage starring Ben Stiller
20th Century Fox screened over ten minutes from The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty as a “special presentation” to close Fox’s 2013 preview at CinemaCon.
The film directed and produced by and starring Ben Stiller is a reinvention of the 1947 Danny Kaye comedy which was based on the short story by James Thurber about a meek writer who lives vicariously through his rich fantasy life. Now Stiller is an ordinary photo editor imagining himself in numerous epic situations only to become immersed in a real life global adventure of his own.
Fox is hoping to replicate last year’s success with unveiling 15 minutes of footage of The Life Of Pi.
Incredibly well received, one theater chain head told Deadline it looked “phenomenal – the perfect holiday movie. This could be Ben’s Oscar chance.” Others compared it to the Oscar-winning Forrest Gump.
Fox Chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos says it is “a remarkable, remarkable work that runs the whole gamut of emotions… For those of us who have worked at Fox when some of the most innovative and successful films in history were made, we are proud that Mitty magnificently marries emotional storytelling with groundbreaking visuals like those previous films. But stands on its own as a rare and exceptional cinematic experience.”
Gianopulos introduced Stiller to the crowd and made the comparison between Mitty‘s director and the Oscar-winning Ang Lee from last year’s Life Of Pi triumph. “Yes, Ben Stiller and Ang Lee. The two of us are constantly being compared,” Ben Stiller immediately joked. “I think it was when Ang made Sense And Sensibility and I made The Cable Guy. Plus we’re both Asian and Bar Mitzvahed in Israel.”
Mitty opens Christmas day.
