On Saturday, as part of the Tribeca Film Festival, a 25th Anniversary Screening was held for Meet the Parents. A Q&A Session was held afterward featuring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, and director Jay Roach. During the Q&A session, Stiller commented on how fun it was revisiting the film, saying, “It’s so much fun to hear laughter in a theater with comedy that’s 25 years old. It still works.”

Stiller also comments on how, even after 25 years, people still associate him with Greg Focker, his lead character in Meet the Parents. “When someone yells ‘Focker!’ on the street, it doesn’t necessarily feel respectful”, Stiller says jokingly. “Whenever I’m treated by a male nurse, I feel a connection”, added Stiller, referencing Greg Focker’s profession as a male nurse in Meet the Parents.

On Stage during the Q&A session, director Jay Roach also mentions that Stiller’s role was originally going to be played by Jim Carrey, to which Stiller responded, “Jim Carrey was going to be me. I totally forgot that part.”

Teri Polo joined the discussion, saying she spent the entire film shoot “just sitting there, listening and reacting” to the huge ensemble cast working alongside her. She also discussed how she remembered Robert De Niro telling her how he approaches comedy the same way he approaches drama. “He [De Niro] said, ‘It’s the same thing, it’s the honesty in which you say the line. You’re not trying to be funny,” says Polo, “You say it and really mean it.”

The Q&A ended with the cast teasing the fourth entry in the Meet The Parents franchise, which is currently in development, with Ariana Grande set to be among the new cast. Stiller teases the film, explaining that he needed an “organic reason” to revisit this series and characters. “What spurred the idea is that I’m the age that Bob was when we did the first movie”, explains Stiller. “It felt like a mirror to the first film, where one of my kids is thinking about introducing his person to the family.”

The cast didn’t discuss plot details, though De Niro shared, “The script is really fun. I’m looking forward to it.”