In my interpretation of your career, the real change happened around 2010. You started making fewer big comedies in favor of films like “Greenberg,” “While We’re Young” and “The Meyerowitz Stories.” You did “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “Brad’s Place.” These are stories about middle-aged people solving big problems. Was that a conscious decision to start making a different kind of film? Yes. I moved back to New York around that time. I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 20 years and I want to try to spend more time at home and try to work closer to home. But for me, what really changed my perspective was after Zoolander. It’s like, everyone wants this, I’m going to do it, I’m having fun doing it, and then no one wants it! I was like, but you said you wanted it! And, is it really that bad? This is how I feel, I have to make a choice. I want to do these other things instead of just walking away when Zoolander 3 is offered. But Zoolander 2 gave me a gift that no one offered me Zoolander 3. [Laughs.] Also, my marriage wasn’t great. A lot happened.
You mentioned that your marriage was in bad shape. You and your wife, Kristen Taylor, separated for a while and then reconciled. I saw her on Drew Barrymore’s talk show, where she broached the idea of separation and reconciliation as a result of what she called the “growth spurt” of adulthood. What was your growth spurt like during that time? When we’re apart, there’s just space to see what our relationship is like, what my life feels like when we don’t have that relationship, and how much I love our family unit. We haven’t been together for three or four years, but we’ve always stayed in touch. In my heart, I never wanted us to be together. I don’t know where Christine is, you’ll have to ask her, but COVID has us all living in the same house.
God willing. Yes. We lived in the same house for almost a year before we actually got together. But I’m very grateful for that, and I don’t think many people get back together after being apart. When you come back, there will be no such thing. You are more grateful for what you have because we know we can’t have it.
My understanding is that you’re working on a documentary about your parents, the comedy team Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller. If people don’t know about the franchise, they definitely know that your dad played George Costanza’s dad on “Seinfeld.” Yes.
What did filming this documentary teach you about parenthood? I realized this was all a reflection on my own issues with them. I feel very lucky that I have all the footage of my parents and our family from these Super-8 movies that my dad shot, and then I shot that footage as well, as well as the recordings that my dad made. Just hours and hours talking to them while my mother wrote sketches or came up with ideas. Sometimes He records our voices simply because He wants to hear our voices. I was thinking this morning: How much I love my dad, but there’s also this tension of not wanting to love yes My dad, but everyone loves my dad. As a son, I want to be loved like my father because he is a lovely man. but there is one more thing but i I.
