Ben Stiller didn’t think about his family’s reaction to his deeply personal documentary about his parents, Stiller and Meara: Nothing is lost, until it is finished.
“It was really after the fact, once we got to the point where the movie was what it was, that I started thinking about what it might be like to release it into the world, and I had to figure it out for myself,” Stiller said. Reuters.
“I also really think about my parents and how they would feel about having something like that there,” said the Meet the parents »added the actor.
Stiller created “Stiller and Meara: Nothing is Lost” to explore the history of his family, particularly his parents, comedy duo Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.
Jerry Stiller and Meara gained popularity after debuting in The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963.
The couple also had prolific careers in scripted television shows and starred together in Rhoda, And The king of queens.
Meara died at age 85 in 2015 after the couple’s 61-year marriage.
The film arrives in theaters Friday, then begins streaming on Apple TV+ on October 24.
For Ben Stiller, having well-known Hollywood parents didn’t completely prepare him to become a famous actor parent himself.
“At first I wanted to try to be like the parent who doesn’t make the mistakes your parents made. Of course, you end up making all these other mistakes. So, that’s the reality of life,” the 59-year-old said.
He remembers being out and about with his parents as a child when they were stopped in the street by eager fans.
“It was a constant thing, always sort of at the mercy of who your parents met when they were kids. It can be a little disorienting,” he said.
“And of course my kids handled it with me,” he added.
