Ben Stiller still has trouble understanding why he was such a beloved comedy movie star in the late 1990s and 2000s.

The actor-producer-director has reached new levels of success with his comedy roles There's something about Mary, meet parents, tropical thunder and Zolanderet al recently reflected on that time in his career in a recent conversation new york times' podcast interview. However, he also recalled that not everyone was a big fan.

"I remember opening Los Angeles Timesand one writer wrote a letter: "Dear God, don't let Ben Stiller do any more comedies," he recalled. "I was like, I don't know, I'm here and I love doing what I do."

Overall, Stiller feels grateful to have been a part of this chapter in film history, adding: "Only in retrospect can I say, wow, something happened that I was lucky to be a part of. But I don't know what the zeitgeist is. You can look at comedies from the 2000s and they were a certain thing, a tone, and there was a lot of greatness in those comedies that we don't have now. I don't know if you can recreate that. a little."

After departure saturday night live Stiller only produced four episodes in 1989 because he felt he "wasn't good at performing live" before going on to win over audiences with his MTV series, Ben Stiller Show. He continued the momentum with a series of hit comedies.

when era Later asked if severance pay The producer-director has always been strategic in his career decisions, to which the actor responded: "I don't think so because I don't think I'm that smart."

He added: "I meeting Make a decision. I remember very clearly: night at the museum It was a decision because I grew up near the Natural History Museum and I thought, if I were a kid, I would love this and it would be fun. "

Although the 2006 night at the museum Stiller was an instant hit, but his reasons for following up with two sequels in 2009 and 2014 changed over time. However, he still enjoys making movies.

"At that point you've got a team together and it's fun to do that, I wouldn't no Would love to work with Robin Williams or Shawn Levy," he explains. "But when I was in that period, I didn't think I had the ability to hover over it. many actors and filmmakers Do Have that ability. The only thing that bothers me is that, as a filmmaker, I love making other types of films, but I never really stop and make the time to do it. "