As the Little Fockers trailers have been warning us for months, there is a moment in which Ben Stiller’s character must use his nursely skills to deflate a crisis involving his father-in-law (Robert De Niro) taking an overdose of a Viagra-like substance. On the red-carpet premiere for the movie last week — also a benefit for De Niro’s Tribeca Film Institute — we got a chance to talk to Stiller about the scene.
A German TV reporter said that over in Germany the movie is called My Wife, Her Children, and Me.
It should be called My Wife, Her Children, and Me, and My Father In-Law’s Erectile Dysfunction.
The erectile-dysfunction part made it into the trailer. Did it give too much away?
Oh, no. I think it’s good for people to see what’s in the movie. You gotta put something in the trailer.
How did that scene work?
Uh, it worked well. [Laughs.] You know, Bob likes to say that he’s a Method actor and it’s all real. I don’t know if that means he really took some sort of erectile-dysfunction medicine or he didn’t, but, uh, he gave me a lot to work with. How’s that for a quote?
Was there pantslessness involved?
Of course there’s pantslessness involved! Didn’t you see Raging Bull where he pours water down his pants? It’s the equivalent of ice water, only it’s a shot.
What are your family holidays like?
There’s a lot of pantslessness and ice water.
Christmas or Hanukkah?
We do both. Yeah. This year I had to do the Hanukkah candles over Skype because I was in New York and the kids were in L.A., but that was fun. A new twist on it. We have a Christmas tree. It’s all about presents. You know, screw the spirituality. Kids just want presents.