Ben Stiller Says Failed Audition For Big 1990s Film ‘Still Haunts’ Him Today

Ben Stiller is reaping critical praise for his new dystopian comedy-drama series Severance. Yet a failed audition from the 1990s “still haunts” him to this day, the director/actor recently revealed.

Stiller said during a recent Severance Q&A that he blew a chance to play one of the central roles in My Cousin Vinny.

“I tanked my third callback for ‘My Cousin Vinny’ to play the friend,” Stiller said. “It still bothers me. You go in as an actor and you do your thing and you sometimes feel really good about it and it just doesn’t work.”

The role in the Oscar-winning comedy from 1992 went to Ralph Macchio instead.

The Second Haunting Of Ben Stiller

Meanwhile, Ben Stiller said in another recent interview that Zoolander 2 bombing at the box office motivated his move to TV.

“If Zoolander 2 had been a huge hit, and then people were saying, ‘Zoolander 3! Do this movie! That movie!’” Stiller recently told Esquire.

Maybe Stiller is opening up about his old wounds because he is riding the most critical success he’s enjoyed in years. The Apple+ sleeper hit Severance, which he helps direct and executive produce, is up for 14 Emmys.

If Severance scoops up some of those awards, it won’t be the first time Stiller found critical favor. After his comedy sketch program, The Ben Stiller Show was canceled, it won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program in 1993.

Additionally, 2019’s Escape at Dannemora, a seven-episode series that Ben Stiller directed, earned two Emmy nominations but didn’t win either.

Stiller continues to make the rounds in effort to give Severance a boost. That includes a recent appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

In the meantime, Colbert had his own fun with Severance by releasing an 8-minute spoof of it. The spoof mashes up Severance and The Office. It also features the show’s actual stars, including Adam Scott and John Tuturro.