On the night of November 30-December 1 2009, the world-famous Madame
Tussaud’s Wax Museum on 42nd Street in New York had a rather
unique promotional opportunity to share with 50 children and their
parents. To promote a new exhibit inspired by the DVD release of the
Ben Stiller sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,
the families became the first people ever allowed to sleep over in the
museum.
And, no, sorry, the exhibits did not come to life late at night.
However,
despite that, the families had a good time. Activities included a
scavenger hunt in the museum, a demonstration on how the wax exhibits
are made and a screening of the new movie a day before it was released
to stores. Then, in the morning, Night at the Museum stars Mizuo
Peck (who played Sacajawea in both films) and Crystal the monkey
introduced the new exhibit – which featured wax figurines of Abraham
Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, Napoleon and Albert Einstein.
“I think that they already had an existing Amelia Earhart and Lincoln
and Albert Einstein, so I think they just thought it was a really great
idea to integrate the two,” says Peck at the exhibit. “Which I’m really
excited about, because the films Night at the Museum and Battle
of the Smithsonian – it seemed to just get kids all excited
about all these historical figures. Any way to make education fun,
right? I’m excited to have all this out there.”
Also thrilling was the overnight sleepover – which Peck did not
participate in, but thought sounded like great fun.
“Everyone slept over,” Peck nods. “I think that’s really cute. I know
that when the first movie came out, they slept over at the Natural
History Museum, which has always been like an amazing fantasy to be able
to do something like that. So I think it’s incredible that kids get to
do fun stuff.
The promotion also gave Peck a chance to work again with her little
co-star, Crystal the Capuchin monkey.
“Crystal
is an amazing little actress-slash-monkey. She’s amazing. She’s so
trained and so cute. Honestly, before this, I had never interacted with
a monkey before. So, it was really… I mean everything about being an
actress in the movie was such an amazing experience, a learning
experience. To be able to hang out with wild animals was really great,
too,” Peck laughs.
As a local woman
–
(“Based out of New York,” Peck states. “Born
and raised in New York, which I’m very proud of.”)
– Peck did
have to admit this was the first time that she had been to Madame
Tussaud’s.
“I’ve never been here,” Peck says. “I was just saying to somebody else
that being raised in New York, you don’t always do things like go to the
Empire State Building or Statue of Liberty – although I have been to
both of those.”
She had – however – visited the Natural History Museum even before
working on the two films which were based there.
“Of course, I’ve been to the Natural History Museum, yes. That’s sort
of a staple for New York life,” Peck chuckles.
As an actress, Peck is now best known for playing the Indian Sacajawea,
though she says at the time she got the role she didn’t know that much
about the historical figure for whom she would become known.
“Not as much as I do now,” Peck laughs. “I did a ton of research.
Watched all sorts of DVDs. Now I feel like I could teach classes on the
Lewis and Clark expedition. But, no, beforehand I really didn’t know
too much about her.”
So
it may or may not be fate that she got the role. Peck’s explanation of
it is a little more pragmatic – as borne from years in show biz.
“I was just a New York actress going on a bunch of auditions and this
one finally just worked out,” Peck laughs. Still, she keeps building on
the buzz which has come to her from the Night in a Museum films.
“I’ve been doing some independent projects – actually working on a
script of my own. As far as anything that would compare to this giant
blockbuster, not yet,” she laughs.
In the meantime, Peck is thrilled that the second film is out on DVD and
that it is being memorialized at the wax museum.
“This is one of the first giant jobs that I’ve done where people all
over the world have seen it, Peck says. “They know what I’m talking
about when I go, ‘Hey, I’m in this movie.’ They’ve actually seen it on
planes and in Japan and all over the place. It’s incredible.”
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