Ben Stiller recalls getting told off by Steven Spielberg after flubbing line and breaking film set rule

Stiller described blunder as ‘most embarrassing thing ever’

Ben Stiller has recalled being told off by Steven Spielberg on the set of Empire of the Sun before he was famous.

The actor-director was given a single line in the 1987 war film, which he said occurred after Spielberg saw him in a play.

“It was really exciting ‘cause I was a huge Spielberg fan,” Stiller said.

The Zoolander star, who directs episodes of Apple TV+ series Severance, said that the line came at the end of a lengthy steady-camera shot.

“After like three or four minutes of this shot, I say my line,” Stiller said on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

“I’m supposed to say, ‘Hey, kid, would you like a Hershey bar?’ And I screwed it up, and I said, ‘Hey, kid, would you like a chocolate bar?’ And then I went, ‘Oh, damn. I’m sorry. Cut.’ And then silence.”

However, this left Spielberg confused, who proceeded to tell Stiller that shouting “cut” is the job of the director only.

“I just hear, from out where the monitors are, ‘What?’” Stiller continued. “[I said] ‘I screwed up my line.’ And then I hear Steven Spielberg say, ‘You never yell cut!’”

Ben Stiller (Getty Images)

Stiller described the blunder as “the most embarrassing thing ever”.

Empire of the Sun, based on JG Ballard’s novel, stars Christian Bale as a young English boy who struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during the Second World War.

Stiller’s new show, Severance, is available to stream on Apple TV+.