First Image Released From Ben Stiller’s THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY

The sad truth about Ben Stiller is that you can't just ignore him because every once in a while he does something brilliant. Films he directs, like Zoolander, The Cable Guy, and Tropic Thunder, are way too great to ever write him off as yet another former funny guy who got addicted to selling out, tempting though that may be for anyone who sat through Meet the Fuckers 2.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a remake of th 1947 film, sounds right up Stiller's alley, too. The story of a timid nerd who is kind of a James Bond type in his own brain-world and must become a real life tough guy to recover a missing photo negative shot by Sean Penn, this could take advantage of Stiller's two great assets: His ability to be nerdy and his insistence on being super buff. Finding the right vehicle for such a blatant contradiction can't be easy.

L.A. Times released this first image from the film. In it we see Stiller with a skateboard amid bunch of wheel-friendly lava rocks. Not sure what that's all about. I guess I'll just have to see the film when it comes out this Christmas to find out.