Funnymen Ben Stiller and Ricky Gervais team up again for Night at the Museum 2, the sequel to the 2006 hit starring Stiller as Larry, a security guard at a museum where everything comes to life when the lights go out. The second film sees Larry heading to the famous Smithsonian in Washington D.C., where he’s helped out by Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart and hindered by Hank Azaria as an ancient Pharaoh. Stiller, Gervais and Azaria were recently in London talking about the film – here’s what they had to say about slapping monkeys, stealing mummies and Amy Adams in tight trousers.

How do you feel about Night at the Museum 3 if all goes well with this? Do you see it as something that can go further or may stop here because it doesn’t get any bigger than the Smithsonian?
Ben Stiller (BS): I don’t know. The second one, we had to figure out a reason why the movie would happen and I think we figured that out. The third one, the idea of doing a third would be great; I think it would be really fun. It would just be having to figure out something that would sustain itself. I think that there are a few ideas floating around if indeed people want to see a third one. The idea of working with these guys would be great. I don’t think it could get any bigger; it’d have to be different.
Ricky Gervais (RG): Just a normal museum where nothing comes to life. It’d just be about the admin. Just naturalise it a bit more.
BS: More realistic.

You’re known as funny men. Was it an absolute riot on set and if so can you give us some examples. And second question, were you distracted by Amy in those trousers because every male journalist has been talking about them.
BS: I enjoyed the trousers. I thought she looked great in them and I was happy to be in scenes with her every day. She’s great. We did laugh a lot, but it was great to hang out with people you admire. Ricky, of course, it’s in his contract, he comes over here for 12 hours and does all his work and that’s it for two movies. You were there what, a day?
RG: Two days. The first time was two days and the second one...
BS: It was always very exciting. I remember the first one it was very exciting when he showed up because it had been weeks and weeks of just acting with nothing. Like, running away from a dinosaur, there’s no dinosaur. Or running away from Attila the Hun, there were no people to really interact with and then Ricky showed up one day and it was just, oh my god...
RG: So it was better than nothing?
BS: Exactly, it was much better than nothing. It was almost too much. After acting with nothing for weeks and weeks, Ricky Gervais shows up and we just laughed a lot.
RG: In those films, all my scenes were with Ben so it was basically just two days of me trying to put Ben off and I got crazier in this one. The first movie I did blind, not really knowing how it was going to be from the page, and then when I saw the finished one, I said, I get it, just go crazy. And then I went over there for a couple of days and the characters just got madder and madder until at one point Ben stopped the scene laughing and said “That’s ridiculous” and that’s the nicest things anyone’s ever said about my acting.
BS: Well he just went off on this crazy tangent about what my character was probably thinking or saying and doing a weird cowboy character that was supposed to be me. And it was just so far from reality and no motivation for it what so ever, I just had to say something. It was always exciting to work with these guys and Hank too. Hank and I have been friends for a long time. It was great to just sit around in between takes with Christopher Guest and Hank and all these people who you really just... talking about comedy, like what Chris Guest’s favourite Abbott and Costello routine is. And we all look up to Chris as a comedy god and he’s such a sweet guy and such an interesting person and the fact that he was actually in the movie – I still don’t believe he was in the movie. He came to Sean and said I’d like to be a part of the movie and it’s very exciting to have this group of people and Robin too. Robin I cracked up many many times with.
RG: No off switch. No off switch. It’s incredible isn’t it? He’s just a machine. And I met Crystal the monkey, I didn’t meet in the first one.
BS: She. It’s a she. I was not so thrilled. She’s very manly for a female monkey.
RG: She’s the cleverest monkey in the world isn’t she?
BS: She’s not that clever. I give her food and she slaps me. And she gets a little antsy at her time of the month too, so you’ve got to be careful there.
Hank Azaria (HA): I didn’t know that. I was very honoured to be slapped. I didn’t realise it was a she, until you just said that, I thought it was a he. And she really packs a little wallop that monkey. We all were delighted by her – you’re tired of her.
BS: I’m beyond tired, I think I resent her. There’s just something about it. I have a Pavlovian reaction to getting slapped by the monkey now. The monkey has gone off a Pavolvian reaction to slapping and getting food and then I get slapped and I want to kill the monkey.
RG: There’s a headline!

Back to the second question which was: Were you distracted by Amy in those trousers?
RG: As I said, I only worked with Ben and the monkey and neither of them were wearing trousers which is really weird. They’ve both got hairy legs.

If the three of you had to take home anything from any museum in the world and think, this is really cool, what would it be?
RG: Well we stole all those mummies from Egypt, so I’d probably see if I could up that collection. I’d got and steal other things from other countries.
BS: Something valuable...
RG: You do that in Supermarket Sweep when you think, where would you go? Straight for the booze. Difficult one isn’t it. I’m into evolution, so I’d probably want Lucy, the first hominid.
BS: I just went to Egypt and I saw King Tut’s mummy, so I’d take something really cool like that.
HA: I’d go with the Hope Diamond.
RG: Can I change mine. I’ll have the pink diamond as well. Who wants some bones? What an idiot.
BS: Then you could use the diamond to cut the protective glass in other museums and take everything else, so it’d be like the wish that gets you more wishes.