Ben Stiller Returns To Roots In New Movie

Ben Stiller grew up just a few blocks away from Manhattan's Museum of Natural History, the setting of his new movie "Night at the Museum."

In the film, Stiller plays an unlucky night security guard who presides over the Natural History Museum as the exhibits come to life. It was an interesting role for Stiller because he used to visit the museum as a kid.

"It's funny, the different stages of your life. You go there when you are little and then the different things you do there," he told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "As I got older, I'd go there, you know, the planetarium was there, the stars and all that, and they also had Laserium, like the laser rock show you go to with all the — how do I put it, the hippy kids — like midnight at Friday night. It would be a big thing and they would play Pink Floyd for two hours with like, a crazy laser show."

Today, Stiller and wife, actress Christine Taylor, have two children, Ella, 4, and Quinn, 1.

"He's an official toddler doing the drunken, you know, walking around with the bottle in his hand, drunkenly," Stiller said of Quinn. "He likes to move and he does all the cliché boy things. Loves cars. It's great."

Stiller said his children influenced him to do "Night at the Museum" because it is a movie that parents and kids can enjoy together. Although he had the best of intentions, Stiller said his son is a little young and Ella doesn't want to see it.

"She wants to see 'Blood Diamond.' A big DiCaprio fan," he said.

But Stiller's interactions with dinosaurs, miniature people and monkeys will probably appeal to other people's children. In one scene, he and a monkey that is supposed to be part of a museum display engage in a slap fight.

"The frustrating thing is you are not allowed to slap a monkey, the animal rights people or the trainers they wouldn't let me actually slap her," Stiller said. "The monkey was allowed to hit me. The monkey was encouraged to hit me by a trainer who would stand next to her and say, 'Hit him. Hit him harder. And, you know, she would really go for it and when it became my turn, I got a monkey puppet or a tennis ball to hit, which is unfair. Yeah, but she wears a diaper so I can't feel too bad for her. I am trying to feel better about myself somehow. But we had a good working relationship, except when she was on her cycle. Not good."