December 26, 2006
New York fakeries of 'Night at the Museum' movie
 If you're heading to the American Museum of Natural History for a real-life look at the "Night at the Museum" movie setting, you'll be in for more than a few surprises.
The Ben Stiller comedy, which just took in more than $30 million to lead the holiday weekend box-office race, was based on the 1993 children's book "The Night at the Museum" by Milan Trenc. But liberties were taken, as screenwriters Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon told the New York Times:
“We dragged a wing of the Met over to the Natural History Museum,” Mr. Garant conceded.
“Save your letters and e-mail,” Mr. Lennon said. “We know.” And there's more, as Stiller told Jon Stewart during an appearance last week on The Daily Show.
The pair weighed in on the merits of the actual museum, including the seasonal live butterfly exhibition and the benefits of drinking cough syrup before the laserium show, and then this exchange followed: Stewart: For this kind of thing though, did you make it actually like a museum? Is it to scale? Is it exactly like. ...
Stiller: Yeah, they built the museum up in Vancouver. It wasn't exactly the museum of natural history, but they built the whole thing. It was pretty cool because it was like going to the actual museum every day.
Stewart: Did the museum let you do anything in it?
Stiller: No.
Stewart: Because they’re all like 'Don’t touch our (bleep.)'
Stiller: Yeah, yeah. They were like: 'You can film outside of it, you can walk up the steps to the door, but you can’t go in.'
Stewart: It is, I tell you, they’re real touchy about the. …
Stiller: You know what, we did have our premier there, which was cool. And they had a sleepover there, for kids.
Stewart: You gotta be kidding me.
Stiller: No, for real.
Stewart: I tell you, I don’t mean to be a geek or whatever, but it’s my favorite place in New York. I just love that place. And don't go expecting to see the place crowd-free either. The museum's "Darwin" exhibit alone, which required an additional admission fee, drew 430,000 people, according to a recent letter to museum members.
Earlier: Late nights at New York museums, and holiday hours
'Night at the Museum' scarier than the insect room?
Sleepovers at the Natural History Museum, oh my!
Tickets available for Comedy Central's Colbert Report
Tickets again available to Jon Stewart's Daily Show
December 26, 2006 09:40 AM in Kids, Museums, Sightsology, Upper West Side
Comments (0)
®Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved
|
