Ben Stiller on fans addressing him by his 'Meet the Parents' character name: "It doesn't necessarily feel respectful"
Actors
Ben Stiller
,
Robert De Niro
, Teri Polo and director Jay Roach gathered for the 25th anniversary of 'Meet the Parents' on Saturday.
At the 25 year anniversary, Stiller revealed that the fans of the film still continue to associate him with his character name-- Greg Focker--from the movie.
He joked that he doesn't always love it when people in the wild address him by his character's name, reported Variety.
During Q&A after the screening of the film, the actor said, "It's so much fun to hear laughter in a theatre with comedy that's 25 years old. It still works. When someone yells 'Focker!' on the street, it doesn't necessarily feel respectful," Stiller said with a laugh, as quoted by Variety.
As per the outlet, Roach reminded Stiller that he was almost never in the movie.
Steven Spielberg was in talks to direct the film, with Jim Carrey as the lead. When the duo chose to depart the project, Roach was hired as the filmmaker and Stiller as the star.
"[Jim Carrey] was going to be me?" Stiller said. "I totally forgot that part," reported Variety.
'Meet The Parents' is about a male nurse, Greg Focker (Stiller), who endures a lot of painfully awkward hijinks while visiting his girlfriend's parents for the first time, reported Variety.
Actor De Niro played Polo's character's father, Greg Byrnes, a cat-loving retired CIA agent.
As per the outlet, 'Meet the Parents' was a commercial hit, grossing more than 330 million USD worldwide against a 55 million USD budget.
The foursome returned for 2004's sequel 'Meet the Fockers,' which introduced Greg's parents (Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman). A third movie, 2010's 'Little Fockers,' was critically panned but managed to earn 310 million USD at the box office.
Now, the 'Meet the Parents' universe is expanding again. A fourth movie is developing with Ariana Grande among the new cast members. Stiller teased the fourquel, saying they needed an "organic reason" to revisit these characters, reported Variety.
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