Ben Stiller Reveals How He Feels When People On the Street Call Him By His 'Meet the Parents' Character's Name
Teri Polo, Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller reunite for a screening of Meet the Parents on Saturday (June 7) in New York City.
The stars of the movie celebrated the 25th anniversary of the comedy at the Tribeca Film Festival, ahead of the upcoming fourth movie that is in the works.
At the screening, they reminisced about the film, teased the fourth movie and Ben opened up about fans still associating him with his character Greg Focker.
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“When someone yells ‘Focker!’ on the street, it doesn’t necessarily feel respectful,” he shared, via Variety, with a laugh. “Whenever I’m treated by a male nurse, I feel a connection.”
As for the upcoming fourth installment, Ben shared why they decided to come back so many years later. The third film, Little Fockers, was released in 2010.
“I think what spurred the idea was that at this point in time. I’m the age that Bob was when we did the first movie,” Ben dished, via Deadline. “Teri is the same age she was when we did it, and there was this sort of sort mirror to the first film in terms of my kids are grown. And my kid, one of my kids, is thinking about introducing his person to the family.”
“I think life informs everything that’s happened in the last, you know, 25 years, and it’s been a while since we did the last one. I think what like 15 years ago?” he added. “So it’s kind of like great to look at it as a sort of like a new thing. But of course, there’s all these great memories and I feel like our connections are still there. When we get back together, it’s just like, it’s kind of like, all baked in there.”
Robert noted he’s been wanting to make another one for years.
“Actually, when we filmed the last one, I was with Ben and [writer] John Hamburg, and we sat in my camper, and I said, ‘Let’s start writing one now, to be ready for another one,’” he said. “And they said, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure.’ They were humoring me. They didn’t want to do it. whatever. And so now finally, though, it only took 15 years.”
If you missed it, a big pop star has joined the cast of the upcoming Meet the Parents 4!