The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a 2013 American adventure comedy-drama film directed, co-produced by and starring Ben Stiller and written by Steve Conrad.

The film also stars Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, and Sean Penn.

Walter accidentally jumps into ice-cold, shark-infested waters, losing the ship's supplies and preventing radio communication when he finally comes aboard.

Walter bikes, skateboards, and runs through the Icelandic countryside to find Sean, but just misses him as the volcano erupts.

Walt Disney Pictures was eager to purchase the remake rights, but Goldwyn instead chose New Line Cinema,[12] which had a positive working relationship with Carrey on Dumb and Dumber and The Mask (both 1994).

Ron Howard entered negotiations to direct the same month, and to cover producing duties with Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment.

[15] Howard and Imagine Entertainment eventually left the project in favor of EDtv,[12] and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty languished in development hell over the challenges of using a contemporary storyline.

[13] In May 1999, New Line Cinema hired The Mask director Chuck Russell to rewrite the script and serve as Howard's replacement.

[14] In November 2002, New Line Cinema was forced to revert the film rights back to Goldwyn, who won his lawsuit and took the property to Paramount Pictures.

[16] By November 2003, Zach Helm was rewriting the script,[17] but Spielberg and DreamWorks vacated the film in April 2004 in favor of War of the Worlds and Munich.

"The goal is to go back to the short story and capture not only the content but the original spirit," producer John Goldwyn (son of Samuel) told The Hollywood Reporter.

"[19] In March 2005, Paramount hired Mark Waters to direct LaGravenese's script for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,[20] but Carrey had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

The Hollywood Reporter also speculated that The Secret Life of Walter Mitty began to falter after Paramount failed to cast a female lead to star opposite Wilson.

[22][23] Paramount executives Brad Grey and Gail Berman decided to put The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in turnaround in November 2005.

[24] Goldwyn found favor at 20th Century Fox and, in May 2007, it was announced that Mike Myers was attached to star in the title role.

[26] Later that month, The Pursuit of Happyness writer Steven Conrad was hired to pen the screenplay,[27] with Gore Verbinski announced as director in June 2010.

The sequences where Walter Mitty follows Sean to Afghanistan were also filmed in Iceland, at the Skogafoss waterfall and in Vatnajökull National Park.

[39] During the skateboarding scene in Central Park, pro skater Rodney Mullen served as Ben Stiller's stunt double.

[40] In April 2013, nearly 20 minutes of footage was presented by Fox at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, followed by a theatrical trailer release in July, both of which began to spark awards speculation.

[45][46] The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 15, 2014, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

The site's consensus reads: "It doesn't lack for ambition, but The Secret Life of Walter Mitty fails to back up its grand designs with enough substance to anchor the spectacle.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a positive review, saying "In his uniquely funny and unexpectedly tender movie, Stiller takes us on a personal journey of lingering resonance.

"[53] Joe Neumaier of New York Daily awarded the film five out of five stars, saying "The story Stiller tells manages to float in a most peculiar, satisfying way.