Stiller Gives Wife ‘Dodgeball’ Facial
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) – The humiliating pain suffered playing dodgeball should be a distant childhood memory, but for the cast of “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” the torment is all too fresh.
On the set of the sports comedy, the actors went through a dodgeball boot camp to learn how to move and throw convincingly. Unfortunately, star Ben Stiller proved to possess the treacherous combination of a strong arm and poor aim, much to the dismay of his wife and co-star Christine Taylor, who received two accidental blows to the face.
“I hit her in the face a couple of times, which was not good. That actually affected our relationship for like a week,” laments Stiller. “There’s just no way not to get upset with somebody after you’ve done that.”
His wife confirms that she was hurt physically as well as psychologically.
“He got me square on the cheek and the ear. I had red speckles on my face,” explains Taylor. “[But] when you get hit, the pain isn’t as much as the shame. You are mortified. You don’t want people to come over and you don’t want pity.”
After her second agonizing mishap, the extras hired to play the dodgeball audience became outraged and booed Stiller. Taylor eventually recovered and forgave her husband, but the three cameras he nailed with errant throws weren’t as resilient: All three were put out of commission.
On top of Taylor’s injuries, the rest of the cast learned to live with the aches, bruises, skinned knees, sore shoulders and even a torn rotator cuff. Stiller is relieved that his dodgeball days are over.
“It was just exhausting,” he says. “Children have the energy, but once you’re like, in your later 30s, it’s not fun.”
The film’s first-time director, Rawson Marshall Thurber, understood exactly what he was asking of his stars when he put them through the wringer. Thurber is one of many wise to dodgeball’s revival and has participated in the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Celebrity Charity Dodgeball Tournament that’s been held for the past three years.
“It’s actually really fun and really fast and really strenuous. It’s a hard core cardiovascular workout,” says the director.
“Dodgeball” stars Stiller as White Goodman, Globo Gym’s narcissistic owner who tries to buy out the run-down Average Joe’s gym. He hires lawyer Kate Veatch (Taylor) to facilitate the foreclosure, but she eventually becomes his opponent on the dodgeball court.
The film opens across North America today!
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