Ben Stiller Confirms Incredible Way 'Meet The Parents' Franchise Avoided R Rating

The actor famously starred as Gaylord Focker in the 2000 comedy and its sequels, but nearly had to change his character's name to nab a PG-13 rating.

Ben Stiller still recalls the “ridiculous” notes he received from the Motion Picture Association of America’s ratings board for two of his most beloved films.

Stiller, who starred as Gaylord “Greg” Focker in the hit 2000 film “Meet the Parents” and its two sequels, divulged Thursday on “Hot Ones” that he nearly had to change his character’s name to avoid an R rating.

When host Sean Evans asked about an old rumor that the ratings board “would not allow for the name ‘Focker’ unless the filmmakers could prove that there was actually someone with that surname” in real life, Stiller briefly thought it over and said, “I think that is true.”

He added, “Yeah, ‘cause it was a PG-13, I think, and they thought it was too close to ‘Fucker.’”

Evans laughingly probed further and asked if the filmmakers had to show the association “a photocopy of someone’s driver’s license,” but Stiller could only remember that they had to “clear names somehow,” admitting that he still doesn’t understand “how it works, legally.”