Ben Stiller Says ‘Meet the Fockers’ Avoided R Rating by Finding a Real Person With ‘Focker’ Last Name to Show the MPAA: ‘They Thought It Was Too Close to F—er’

variety.com:

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Ben Stiller appeared on “Hot Ones” and confirmed that the team behind “Meet the Fockers” had to find a real person with the Focker surname in order to prevent the MPA (then called the MPAA) from giving the comedy an R rating.

The 2004 film was the sequel to “Meet the Parents” and became a blockbuster hit with $522 million worldwide, which made it the seventh highest-grossing movie of the year. “I think that is true.

Yeah,” Stiller said. “It was a PG-13 and they thought it was too close to ‘fucker.’ Yes. They have to clear names. … Something like that did happen.” “I also remember having to go to the MPAA when they wanted to give ‘Zoolander’ an R rating because the goat orgy is something they didn’t care for or think was wholesome enough,” Stiller continued about his ratings battles over the years. “I wrote a little speech and talked about other movies that had worse things in them.

It was nerve-wracking. It was so important. When you have a comedy and have jokes you know work, the last thing you want to do is cut them for a rating.” “Meet the Fockers” was the second installment in the Stiller and Robert De Niro-led franchise and memorably featured Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand as the parents of Stiller’s character.