Half-Assed Internet Research
Original indie film; box office and video; Oscar song; home movies; smoking; De Niro role choice; polygraph; DeHuff; cats; Focker name; set behavior; ratings rule; Litter Kwitter; Polo bankruptcy
In the discussion (18)
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- The film originated with a low-budget 1992 version by Greg Glienna; Universal’s rights purchase reportedly allowed it to suppress that earlier film, which intermittently reappears online.
- Randy Newman’s A Fool in Love received an Original Song Oscar nomination.
- A $55 million budget and roughly $330 million gross are reported; it beat Remember the Titans on opening weekend.
- The film is reported as the seventh-biggest release of 2000; the sequels earned $522.7 million and $310.7 million respectively.
- Video sales reportedly added $200 million in 2001, illustrating the lucrative home-video era.
- Polo’s husband’s home movies were reportedly inserted after test audiences disliked Pam, making her more appealing as a romantic partner.
- Stiller reportedly was not a smoker and felt uncomfortable smoking beside De Niro, whose screen technique he admired.
- Claims that the bomb dialogue was removed from airplane screenings conflict with a recent personal flight viewing that retained it.
- De Niro reportedly turned down Any Given Sunday to make this film.
- De Niro reportedly suggested the polygraph scene.
- Nicole DeHuff, who played Pam’s sister, died at 30 after pneumonia; the diagnosis and sequel timing are discussed with uncertainty.
- Two Himalayan cats, Bailey and Misha, played Jinx, with Misha doing most scenes.
- Jim Carrey reportedly devised the Focker surname.
- De Niro reportedly enjoyed the cat between takes and encouraged more scenes with it.
- De Niro reportedly kept his distance from Stiller to sustain their characters’ unease; Stiller later acknowledged he was not especially nice.
- The ratings body reportedly required proof of a real Focker surname before permitting it.
- The movie reportedly inspired the successful Litter Kwitter cat toilet-training product.
- Polo’s 2014 bankruptcy filing is mentioned without an explanation.