Ben Stiller still recalls the “ridiculous” notes he received from the Motion Picture Association of America’s ratings board for two of his most beloved films.
Stiller, who starred as Gaylord “Greg” Focker in the hit 2000 film “Meet the Parents” and its two sequels, divulged Thursday on “Hot Ones” that he nearly had to change his character’s name to avoid an R rating.
When host Sean Evans asked about an old rumor that the ratings board “would not allow for the name ‘Focker’ unless the filmmakers could prove that there was actually someone with that surname” in real life, Stiller briefly thought it over and said, “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 further and asked if the filmmakers had to show the association “a photocopy of someone’s driver’s license,” but Stiller could only remember that they had to “clear names somehow,” admitting that he still doesn’t understand “how it works, legally.”
“But something like that did happen,” he said.
“Meet the Parents” — in which none other than Robert De Niro was cast as Stiller’s future father-in-law — grossed $330 million at the worldwide box office.
Those earnings were overshadowed by the 2004 sequel: “Meet the Fockers” earned more than $520 million and reportedly became one of the highest-grossing live-action comedies of all time, prompting one last entry, 2010’s “Little Fockers.”
Phillip V. Caruso/Universal Studios/Dreamworks/Online USA/Getty Images
“I also remember having to go to speak to the arbitration board when they wanted to give ‘Zoolander’ an R rating,” Stiller said Thursday before 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 association with a speech about all the other films that “had worse things in them” than his satire of the fashion industry.
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While “Zoolander” wasn’t a box office success, it did become one of the most beloved cult-classic comedies of the past few decades. Stiller noted Thursday that its 2016 sequel failed to attract the same kind of attention and admitted that he might’ve missed the mark.
“It’s hard to think it was that bad that people didn’t like it that much,” he said. “But maybe I am wrong.”