Meet the Fockers (2004)
Trivia
James Brolin was originally approached for the role of Bernie, but turned it down. When director Jay Roach went to approach Dustin Hoffman for the role, Hoffman was talking non-stop, and even out of the point, which made him the instant choice for Bernie.
Teri Polo accidentally called Barbra Streisand "Boob", which ended up becoming her on-set nickname.
Alanna Ubach, who played Greg's former housekeeper Isabelle, is actually ten years younger than Ben Stiller.
This was the highest grossing film in which Robert De Niro has ever appeared, until Joker passed it in 2019.
The flight attendant, Kali Rocha, is the same one from Meet the Parents (2000). That is why Greg gives her an odd look when she offers to take his bag and be helpful.
The horn on the Byrnes' RV plays the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon", about which Greg and Jack had a conversation in the first movie.
Robert De Niro spent a lot of time, when he wasn't filming, hanging out with the twins who play his grandson. He felt it important to bond with the twins as much as possible to make his on-screen relationship with them credible.
Barbra Streisand found making the film to be a refreshing experience as it was her first time as just a jobbing actress in twenty-three years. Normally, she's involved in her films more heavily, either as a producer, writer, or director.
The MPAA would not allow the name "Fockers" to be on posters, or part of the main title for the movie, unless the filmmakers could prove that somewhere in America that there was someone with the real last name of "Focker". Apparently, they found somebody, because the movie was granted the name "Meet the Fockers" by the MPAA.
Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) says he has heard that Jack (Robert De Niro) is a "Tom Collins" man. "Tom Collins", as well as being the name of a cocktail, is the alias Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) used at the bank in Casino (1995).
When the first film and this sequel, while hugely successful, failed to raise Teri Polo's profile as an actress, she posed for Playboy the following year.
During production, the proposed title of "Meet the Fockers" was thought by the studio to be too vulgar. The spelling was briefly changed to "Meet the Fokkers," but that would have upset the franchise's continuity, so it was changed back.
Spencer and Bradley Pickren, who played Little Jack Byrnes, know sign language, and have been in a series of videos called, "Signing Time!"
The opening scene (outside the hospital) is the same as in Meet the Parents (2000).
The close-up of Bernie Focker's license plate, as he and Greg are driving away, reveals the letters "TMI", a subtle reference to Bernie's propensity for overly detailed explanations and descriptions of personal information. "TMI" is the literary abbreviation for "Too Much Information".
The actors and actress portraying Greg Focker's parents and in-laws have won a combined six Academy Awards. Dustin Hoffman (Bernie Focker) won two Oscars for Best Actor for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Rain Man (1988). Barbra Streisand (Roz Focker) won one Oscar for Best Actress for Funny Girl (1968) and one Oscar for Best Original Song for "Evergreen", from the film A Star Is Born (1976). Robert De Niro won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Godfather: Part II (1974) and another Oscar for Best Actor for Raging Bull (1980).
Barbra Streisand modelled her hair on Dustin Hoffman's wife.
Jinx is first seen exiting the motor home bathroom with toilet paper attached to his foot. Trainers rigged the paper around a small piece of elastic that fit over the cat's paw and then fluffed up his abundant hair to conceal the band.
When Jack and Dina first meet Bernie Focker, his dog Moses runs up and humps Dina's foot. Curiously enough, the hero dog, played by a Yorkie mix named Terem, is actually female! To achieve this action, the trainer shook Blythe Danner's pant leg and verbally cued the dog with the phrase "get the kitty." This prompt originated after the trainer noticed that at home, Terem liked to hump a stuffed cat toy. The trainer used food rewards to condition the dog to repeat this behavior on command.
In a later scene, the families arrive home and discover Moses "sodomizing" Mr. Jinx. For weeks, trainers prepped the dog with a fake fur bolster about the size of the lying cat. Trainers first put Jinx into a down-stay position and then used the aforementioned "get the kitty" cue so that Moses would hump the back of the cat. Trainers rehearsed this action only a few times over the course of several months so the cat would not start to dislike it.
At the wedding, Moses and Jinx sit together sharing a piece of cake. Trainers put a bit of cat and dog food next to the cake and the two animals were able to eat near each other without any tension.
Voted the 25th funniest movie of all time on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies. Meet the Parents (2000) was 52nd place.
In one scene, Moses chases Jinx into the R.V. bathroom, where the cunning cat proceeds to flush the desperate dog down the toilet. This sequence required loads of movie magic. For the chase, one trainer released the cat while a second handler used a buzzer to call Jinx to the bathroom. Trainers working with the dog waited until the cat had almost completed his run before they released Moses. Because the little dog could not jump directly from the ground into the toilet, trainers set up an apple box in front of the bowl for Moses to step on and padded the inside of the toilet with diapers. A raised replica of the bathroom set allowed the trainer to remain out of sight and hold up Moses wrapped loosely with a towel through an enlarged hole in the base of the toilet bowl. The trainer then cued the dog to "dig it" so it looked like Moses struggled to get out. A special effects technician hiding under the set depressed the flush button as soon as the trainer verbally cued Jinx to touch it with his paw. To simulate the effect of Moses getting flushed down the toilet, the trainer held the dog while standing on a motorized lazy Susan-type platform. After breaking the toilet bowl with a fire extinguisher, Bernie reveals a very wet, blue dog lodged in the floor of the R.V. bathroom. A trainer holding the dog underneath the set floor handed Moses to the actor. Trainers wet the dog just prior to the shot and kept him nestled in a towel between takes. The toilet water was tinted with non-toxic blue dye, and the color on Moses was a safe, well-tested formula created by a specialist in animal coloring.
One of the members of Roz' sex therapy group, Judge Ira, was played by the revered comedian and author Shelley Berman . He is also known for playing Judge Robert Sanders on Boston Legal (2004). Known for his acerbic wit, Berman was a writer for the The Steve Allen Show (1968) (which established the zany talk show format that was later used for Late Show with David Letterman (1993) and a founding member of Compass Players, which evolved into Second City.
Jack (Robert De Niro) says that Greg's "son" looks like a young Latino Marlon Brando. De Niro and Brando played Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather film franchise. Brando played the older version in The Godfather (1972) and De Niro played the younger version in The Godfather: Part II (1974).
When visiting the Focker household, Pam is seen looking at a vinyl record. The album is "Make It Big", by Wham!.
Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro appeared in Sleepers (1996) and Wag the Dog (1997).
This is the first appearance of Greg's parents Roz and Bernie Focker in the first film Roz's name appears on the results of Greg's MCAT test.
While everyone except Greg & Little Jack go shopping to Coconut Grove, Little Jack turns on the television and the movie Scarface is playing. The lead character and the character in the scene, Tony Montana is played by Al Pacino, a long time friend and co-star of Robert DeNiro (Jack Byrnes).
Roz Focker (Barbra Streisand) gives Jack (Robert De Niro) a massage where he lies shirtless on a massage table and she rubs his back and then runs her hands down under his belly. After doing that a few times, she says, "Oops, hit some driftwood" (an erection joke). Coincidence is, Barbra Streisand acted in Maurice Tei Dunn's play, "Driftwood", in New York City in 1959.
