Why There Was 'Tension' on Set of This Underrated 1990s Dark Comedy

With Apple TV’s Emmy-winning series Severance, Ben Stiller has continued to prove his talents behind the lens.

When it comes to movies, the Zoolander funnyman, 60, has directed dating back to the 1990s — and that includes a certain dark comedy that’s loaded with big names.

Sunday, June 14 marked exactly 30 years since the release of The Cable Guy, whose star-studded cast was led by Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick.

At the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival — where a 4K restoration of the comedy-thriller premiered on Friday, June 12 — Stiller opened up during a panel about the behind-the-scenes process, which involved some “tension” between the principal actors.

“We’re like the same age,” Stiller said of Broderick, 64, per People. “But Matthew, his career began when he was a teenager, and every young actor in my position in New York was looking at Matthew Broderick going like, ‘Oh my God, I love him. I hate him. I want to be him… Damn, he’s so good.'”

Stiller continued, “And so I was kind of starstruck and excited at the possibility of putting you and Jim together because obviously Jim was like this one kind of energy and your, you know, ability to ground and react… And of course that was a little bit of a tension, I think, of making the movie, because my memory of it, which was like… I’d never worked with Jim and Jim is this kind of, you know, energy, powerhouse kind of thing where he comes in and his working style was very different.”

The Cable Guy also made headlines recently as New Girl stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. are reuniting to star in and executive produce a new Hulu comedy pilot inspired by the cult classic.

The untitled pilot gives the 1996 premise a streaming-age makeover. Johnson, 48 plays Chip Douglas, an old-school cable technician who reconnects with a childhood friend, Steven Stephens (Wayans Jr.), when Steven calls to turn his cable back on. Their bond gives each man something he has been missing, until Chip’s enthusiasm curdles into obsession.