Robert De Niro reveals that he actually pitched the hilarious lie detector scene in Meet the Parents. The story of the 2000 comedy movie follows Greg Focker, who goes to his girlfriend Pam’s childhood home to meet her parents for the first time. In the movie, De Niro plays Pam’s not-accepting and overprotective father, Jack Byrnes, who is also a retired CIA agent. In addition to De Niro, the cast of Meet the Parents includes Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, and Owen Wilson.

In an interview with GQ, De Niro revealed that he pitched the lie detector scene in Meet the Parents to director Jay Roach and producer Jane Rosenthal. De Niro claimed that he was very interested in starring in Meet the Parents after working on the 1999 crime comedy film Analyze This. He immediately began doing research for the role of Jack Byrnes, and remembered a conversation he had with a friend of his who worked in the CIA, who told him about the lie detector tests they had to do. Read De Niro’s full comments below:

One thing I remember, a CIA friend of mine telling me about the lie detector thing and what they had to go through, you know. And I thought this is interesting, and I said it to Jay and Jane, ‘How about, you know, this kind of scene that Jack puts Ben’s character through.’ So, that’s how that sort of evolved into whatever it was.

The Lie Detector Scene Is One Of The Funniest Parts Of Meet The Parents

Meet The Parents’ Lie Detector Scene Is So Uncomfortable

After being forced to sleep downstairs, away from Pam, in Meet the Parents, Greg discovers Jack’s secret room, which contains a lot of the work he did for the CIA. Jack catches Greg in the room, which leads to him asking a series of uncomfortable questions during the lie detector test. Even though this scene is quite uncomfortable to watch, it is hilarious and designed to be that way, since Greg doesn’t want to partake in this test at all. Meet the Parents’ cringe humor makes it an iconic comedy movie, and led to a very successful franchise.

Meet the Parents may not be one of Robert De Niro’s best movies, but it is undeniably one of his best comedy films. It has an impressive score of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and made over $330 million at the worldwide box office. Following the success of the movie, two sequels were made. In 2004, Meet the Fockers was released and made even more money than Meet the Parents at the box office. Then, in 2010, Little Fockers was released and introduced Greg and Pam’s children.

Our Take On Robert De Niro Pitching Meet The Parents’ Lie Detector Scene

Jack Byrnes Is The Funniest Character In Meet The Parents

The lie detector scene is undoubtedly one of the funniest scenes in Meet the Parents, and proves just how controlling and overprotective De Niro’s character is. However, he eventually develops and accepts Greg, which is what makes him such a great character. 24 years after the release of the first film in the series, it was reported in December 2024 that both De Niro and Stiller are in talks to reprise their roles in a fourth Meet the Parents film. After this exciting news, there has never been a better time to rewatch Meet the Parents.

Source: GQ