Ben Stiller Removed Chairs From ‘Walter Mitty’ Set, Has a ‘No Phones’ Rule on ‘Severance’ Because ‘It Drives Me Crazy’

variety.com:

Ethan Shanfeld Ben Stiller shared how Noah Baumbach’s directing style rubbed off on him while working on “Greenberg.” Stiller starred in Baumbach’s 2010 rom-com and recalled on Mike Birbiglia’s “Working It Out” podcast that the director had “no chairs” on set. “I think it was like 10 days into shooting, and I’m like, ‘Where’s the chairs?

Oh my God, there’s no chairs here,'” Stiller said. “And that’s his choice because he doesn’t want to have people sitting around.” Stiller added that people still found a place to sit down, but it helped keep everyone focused and moving.

So, when he directed the adventure comedy “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” a few years later, Stiller adopted Baumbach’s policy.

As Stiller has acted in films from auteur directors like Baumbach and Wes Anderson, he said he has picked up on certain methods of theirs to use on his own projects. “I’ll take something like that, like, ‘That’s a good idea!