NEED TO KNOW
- In his new film Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, Ben Stiller examines his relationship with his famous parents and how it mirrors his own with his two children Quin and Ella
- “They [Ella and Quin] were very clear with me about what I got wrong,” Ben told PEOPLE of his children at the Oct. 5 New York Film Festival premiere
- Stiller’s film, which will be available to stream on Apple TV Oct. 24, features conversations with both children, his wife Christine Taylor and his sister Amy Stiller
Quin Stiller is comfortable being honest with his dad about his shortcomings.
While looking back at the lives of his famous parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara for the new documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, Ben Stiller also examines his relationship with his own children through honest conversations caught on camera.
One particularly poignant moment comes when Stiller’s son Quin, 20, whom he shares with wife Christine Taylor, says he sometimes felt Stiller, 59, did not prioritize fatherhood. (Stiller and Taylor also share daughter Ella, 23.)
“You have all these hats that you’re trying to balance, you know, being a director, an actor, you know, a producer, a writer, but also, just like a father, right? And sometimes I felt that that would come, you know, last to these other things,” he says in the documentary while sitting across from his father.
Quin Stiller, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor and Ella Stiller in 2016.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
During a Q&A at the Oct. 5 New York Film Festival premiere of the film, Stiller said of the revelation: “As a filmmaker, I’m like, ‘Oh this is a good moment for the movie,’ you know. As a person I’m like, ‘That sucks.’ ”
Elsewhere in the film, Stiller talks with his son about what aspects of his father he sees in himself, especially when it comes to managing fatherhood and fame. During the sitdown with Quin, Stiller recalls a time when he opened up to his dad Jerry about feeling as though he didn’t “pay enough attention” to him — in that moment, a fan approached the two, and Jerry turned to engage with the fan.
“That’s actually hilarious,” Quin responds. “Because just a few weeks ago, we were all out at a restaurant, and I had been stressed about college stuff, and then the people there wanted to get, like, a picture with you. Then I just remember I was so frustrated, like the world just has to stop to get this picture. You know what I mean?”
“I think I got more of my dad in me than my mom,” Ben replies.
Anne Meara, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller and Jerry Stiller in 2006.
Stephen Shugerman/Getty
While speaking with PEOPLE at the Oct. 5 premiere, Stiller said making the film taught him a lot about how his own relationship with his parents mirrored the ones he had forged with his children — for better or worse.
“They [Ella and Quin] were very clear with me about what I got wrong,” he said. “And I really appreciated that, because it’s one of those things where you think you know, ‘Oh, I know what I’m putting out there to them.’ But from their perspective, it was totally different.”
“And by the way, that’s exactly how it was with my parents,” Ben continued. “But as the parent, I really couldn’t see that. So to be able to interview them and talk to them about it and hear their honest feelings — and the fact that they were free enough and secure enough to just say what they thought — is something I really appreciated.”
Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost is now playing in select theaters and will be available to stream Apple TV on Oct. 24.
