At Night (2006) - Movie News & Updates

The Locarno Film Festival audience will get an exclusive first look at a scene from At Night, the 2006 family fantasy-comedy starring Ben Stiller, with a newly released clip that director Shawn Levy says highlights something rarely seen on screen: the private conversations women share with each other but seldom voice publicly.

The clip, unveiled ahead of the film’s screening at the Swiss festival, centers on a moment between Stiller’s character, night watchman Larry Daley, and Carla Gugino’s Rebecca, a museum docent. While the film’s broader plot involves a chaotic supernatural awakening at the American Museum of Natural History, this particular scene strips away the spectacle and leans into quieter storytelling. Levy, in a statement accompanying the clip, emphasized that the exchange represents the kind of dialogue that resonates with authenticity.

“This is a scene about stories women share together but rarely to an audience,” Levy said. “It’s a glimpse into the emotional core that grounds the comedy and chaos around it.”

At Night, which premiered theatrically on December 20, 2006, follows Larry Daley, a down-on-his-luck dreamer who takes a job as a security guard at the natural history museum. He soon discovers that an ancient Egyptian curse brings the exhibits to life after sundown, unleashing Attila the Hun, a legion of gladiators, a towering Tyrannosaurus rex, and a host of historical figures into the halls. The premise turns the museum into a battlefield, but the new footage suggests the film also carves out space for intimacy and reflection between its comic set pieces.

The movie’s ensemble cast includes Robin Williams as the animated wax figure of Theodore Roosevelt, Dick Van Dyke as veteran guard Cecil, Mickey Rooney as Gus, Bill Cobbs as Reginald, Jake Cherry as Larry’s son Nick, and Ricky Gervais as the museum’s beleaguered director Dr. McPhee. Together, the cast mixes slapstick energy with a warmth that Levy has often described as the film’s secret weapon. With a runtime of 108 minutes and a TMDb rating of 6.6 out of 10, At Night remains a touchstone of mid-2000s family entertainment, blending practical effects with early digital wizardry that still holds up for audiences discovering it for the first time.

The Locarno presentation arrives nearly two decades after the film’s original release, a timeline that positions the exclusive clip as a nostalgic look back rather than a promotional push for a current theatrical run. Festival programmers have increasingly turned to retrospectives and anniversary screenings, and At Night fits that trend, offering both longtime fans and a new generation a chance to revisit its blend of fantasy and heart. Levy’s choice to highlight a dialogue-driven scene, rather than a dinosaur chase or a battle sequence, signals a deliberate effort to reframe the movie’s legacy, emphasizing character depth over spectacle.

The scene in question, as described by the director, operates on a different register from the film’s high-concept hook. It’s a quiet beat between two adults navigating shared history and unspoken understanding, a counterpoint to the boisterous mayhem that surrounds them. Gugino’s Rebecca, who in the film serves as a voice of reason and a love interest for Larry, brings a grounded presence to the story, and the new clip reportedly showcases her range beyond her typical scenes of explaining museum lore or dodging marauding statues.

For Levy, the director behind later hits like the Night at the Museum franchise sequels and freewheeling comedies, the Locarno spotlight offers a chance to revisit the project that proved he could handle both blockbuster logistics and sincere human moments. The clip’s focus on women’s shared stories - conversations that often happen in kitchens, cars, or quiet hallways rather than on camera - speaks to a broader shift in how family films of that era approached emotional authenticity. It’s a reminder that beneath the puppet battles and CGI skeletons, At Night aimed for something more enduring.

The film’s legacy extends beyond its initial box office success, which is not under discussion here but remains a notable chapter in Stiller’s filmography and Williams’s late-career run of family roles. The exclusive nature of the clip, tied to the Locarno festival, adds an air of event status for a movie many assumed had said its final word. For audiences at the festival and, inevitably, online after the screening, the moment offers a fresh lens on a familiar title - one that trades a dinosaur’s roar for a whisper between friends, proving that even in a museum that comes alive at night, the most compelling stories are often the ones told in the quiet.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter