The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

film by Stiller [2013]

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July 21, 2026

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The 2013 film "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," directed by and starring Ben Stiller, is a modern adaptation of James Thurber's 1939 short story. In both versions, Walter Mitty is a timid man who escapes his mundane reality through vivid daydreams.

In Thurber's original story, Mitty is a proofreader who imagines himself in heroic scenarios, only to be pulled back to his ordinary life. The film expands on this, with Mitty working as a photo editor at Life magazine. He embarks on an adventurous quest in real life to find a missing photo negative, mirroring the grand fantasies he once only dreamed of. The character of Walter Mitty has become synonymous with individuals who escape reality through imaginative daydreams.12

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Ben Stiller
…in the melancholy and fantastical The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which was adapted from a short story by James Thurber. The film chronicles the reveries and real-life encounters of a floundering photograph editor. Stiller then evoked the angst of a stultified documentary filmmaker in Noah Baumbach’s dark comedy While…
Read More
…in the melancholy and fantastical The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which was adapted from a short story by James Thurber. The film chronicles the reveries and real-life encounters of a floundering photograph editor. Stiller then evoked the angst of a stultified documentary filmmaker in Noah Baumbach’s dark comedy While…
Read More