Ben Stiller nonetheless recollects the “ridiculous” notes he obtained from the Movement Image Affiliation of America’s scores board for 2 of his most beloved movies.
Stiller, who starred as Gaylord “Greg” Focker within the hit 2000 movie “Meet the Parents” and its two sequels, divulged Thursday on “Hot Ones” that he almost needed to change his character’s identify to keep away from an R ranking.
When host Sean Evans requested about an outdated rumor that the scores board “would not allow for the name ‘Focker’ unless the filmmakers could prove that there was actually someone with that surname” in actual life, Stiller briefly thought it over and mentioned, “I think that is true.”
He added, “Yeah, ‘cause it was a PG-13, I think, and they thought it was too close to ‘Fucker.’”
Evans laughingly probed additional and requested if the filmmakers needed to present the affiliation “a photocopy of someone’s driver’s license,” however Stiller may solely do not forget that they needed to “clear names somehow,” admitting that he nonetheless doesn’t perceive “how it works, legally.”
“But something like that did happen,” he mentioned.
“Meet the Parents” — wherein none apart from Robert De Niro was forged as Stiller’s future father-in-law — grossed $330 million on the worldwide field workplace.
These earnings have been overshadowed by the 2004 sequel: “Meet the Fockers” earned greater than $520 million and reportedly turned one of many highest-grossing live-action comedies of all time, prompting one final entry, 2010’s “Little Fockers.”
Phillip V. Caruso/Common Studios/Dreamworks/On-line USA/Getty Photos
“I also remember having to go to speak to the arbitration board when they wanted to give ‘Zoolander’ an R rating,” Stiller mentioned Thursday earlier than explaining: “The goat orgy thing was something they didn’t care for, or they didn’t think it was wholesome enough. And it was just so ridiculous.”
That actor recalled having to make his case for the affiliation with a speech about all the opposite movies that “had worse things in them” than his satire of the style trade.
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Whereas “Zoolander” wasn’t a field workplace success, it did change into some of the beloved cult-classic comedies of the previous few a long time. Stiller famous Thursday that its 2016 sequel failed to draw the identical type of consideration and admitted that he would possibly’ve missed the mark.
“It’s hard to think it was that bad that people didn’t like it that much,” he mentioned. “But maybe I am wrong.”
