Early in his movie career, Ben Stiller starred in Judd Apatow's 1995 summer camp comedy, "Heavyweights." The actor played Tony Perkis, the owner of a "fat camp" for kids, per IMDb. Stiller's character was an over-the-top former fitness instructor who bought the camp and made his campers' lives a living hell.
In a Reddit AMA, Stiller told fans that the studio had no idea what they were doing with "Heavyweights." "Judd Apatow wrote it and we all didn't realize it was a Disney movie," he revealed. "The tone of it was like so dark and weird that when the Disney people saw it, they immediately freaked out and were like 'what is this?'" He explained that neither he nor Apatow had experience doing children's movies, which is why they treated the project as if it was like any other film. Stiller added that he had a great time making the movie, despite the confusion over its genre.
While Stiller had a blast making the film, it wasn't a hit in theaters, so he assumed he was safe to recycle some of Tony Perkis' traits when he played the White Goodman character in the movie "Dodgeball." In 2004, he told Blackfilm, "I always thought, 'Well, nobody ever saw 'Heavyweights,' so I can do this.' But a lot of people saw 'Heavyweights' apparently."
Stiller noted that the movie became popular years later when it aired frequently on the Disney Channel. Fast forward to today, and "Heavyweights" is getting a second wind on Disney+, where it currently streams to an even wider audience.
