You might think it'd be hard to get a major movie studio to sign on to make a film about two teams of oddballs playing dodge ball to decide the fate of a small gym targeted by a corporate health club chain ... and you'd be right. But somehow Ben Stiller found a home for the project at 20th Century Fox. As he told MTV News' Ryan J. Downey, spilled lattes and jittery studio execs couldn't stand in the way of a good script. MTV: How did this script come your way? Was it one of those Hollywood-type things where you're having lattes and your receptionist hands you a ... Ben Stiller: Yes, there were lattes. I spilled a latte, looked down, the script was on the table, and I just [wondered], "What's that?" I got mad at it and then I read it. No, somebody sent it to us. My receptionist? Yeah. I have this production company and everybody reads stuff. And when somebody reads something that's funny, they say, "Hey, this is funny." And it was funny, and then we took it over to the studios, but no studios wanted to make it. They didn't think it was funny enough. Or ... they'd say like, "Well, if we were going to make a dodge ball movie, this would be the one we'd make." And we were like, "OK." But Fox actually decided to make it — the only studio that wanted to make it.  Check out the trailer and more for "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story". MTV: What do you think made 20th Century Fox want it when no one else did? Stiller: Honestly, I think it's like somebody said, "You know what? Let's take a chance on this and do it." I mean, it's just the way it is in this business, you know, [when you] see something different. I thought the script was just laugh-out-loud funny. Luckily we were able to put it together and get a cast that we really thought was great. And Vince [Vaughn] was, you know, Vince was perfect. MTV: Before "Old School" and "Elf," Will Ferrell was pitching the "Anchorman" script and all the studios were like, "This is great, but we don't know about the whole 'Anchorman' market." Now that Will's a much bigger name, it's been made. Stiller: Yeah. Hollywood is kinda predictable that way, you know what I mean? It's like, oh, somebody does well, then we'll give him [a project]. You know, they're not good at taking big chances all the time. So yeah, Vince's success in "Old School" probably helped things along too. MTV: Speaking of Vince and Will, you guys and other people like Luke and Owen Wilson seem to keep crossing paths, keep working together. What is it about that group of people that keeps you all coming back to each other? Stiller: You talking about me and Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio, and [Laurence] Olivier? Just this common sense of humor that we have. ... For me it's just, seriously, I like working with people who I think are funny. I think it's great to work with people who you know and enjoy, that you do have that common sense of humor [with], and I think Vince is just, comedically he is this incredible genius. You know what he did in "Swingers," and then he sort of turned away from it for a while to do serious roles. I think it's great that he's embracing the comedy again. So I don't know, all those guys, I think, are just fun to work with because they're so good. I enjoy it. MTV: Vince has sort of that thing that Bill Murray had in the early '80s. Stiller: Well the thing is, yeah, he has own persona, you know? He can improvise, and what comes out of his mouth is like a hybrid of acting and writing and ... Did you ever see when he guest-hosted the David Letterman show? It was incredible. It was like he should have had his own talk show. You know, he is also a really good actor too. A very unique guy. MTV: What can you tell us about the "Meet the Parents" sequel, "Meet the Fockers?" Stiller: Well, we're shooting it now. It's Dustin Hoffman playing my father, Barbra Streisand playing my mother. Its idea is the Byrnes family goes down to meet my parents, the Fockers, and then hijinks ensue. MTV: Wacky hijinks? Stiller: Wacky hijinks. There's animals and all sorts of mishaps. MTV: Are we going to see Owen in this movie? Stiller: That would be nice. I don't know, he's very hard to reach. He's trying to get in touch with his people. Yeah, that would be good. Hopefully there will be some fun surprise things that happen. Check out MTV Movies for more from Hollywood, including news, interviews, trailers and more. E-Mail this story to a friend What do you think of this feature? You Tell Us...
	Photo: 20th Century Fox