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After the death of his father, and amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Ben Stiller realized he was looking for answers.
Actor and Director, 59, whose documentary Stiller & Miara: Nothing premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 5, 2025, but after his father passed away in 2020, he says he began the idea of making a film about his parents, comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Miara.
Ben, who shares two children with his wife, Christine Taylor, says that the same could not be said about his personal life when he was in a stable place in his career.
“My career has been going on for a long time, but things have actually not been great in my personal life,” Ben, who was separated from Taylor for several years in 2017, admits in the documentary. “I just felt out of balance, unhappy and detached from my family, my kids and something a bit of a lost thing.”
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It was during this time that he realized there was something to learn.
“I started thinking with my parents about the pressures they had when they were kids and when they worked together, and all the stress and tension I remember seeing how they were together through it,” he says.
After Ben and Christine were discovered together multiple times after the split, the couple announced they would be reuniting in February 2022.
The documentary is filled with archival footage shot by the family and audio recordings, from parents’ comedy rehearsals to disagreement between the longtime couple, but Ben and her sister Amy share what her dad doesn’t seem to be able to hold.
From scuba masks to newspaper clippings to detailed love notes from early days of parents’ courtship, Jerry kept it all.
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After first meeting in 1953, Jerry and Miara soon married. They had been married for over 60 years at the time of Meara’s death in 2015. The comedic duo gained popularity in the 1960s, appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show 36 times, and was honored as the star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. They worked steadily for most of their lives, pursuing opportunities outside of their actions, such as Jerry’s beloved role as Frank Costanza at Sainfeld and the off-Broadway show in Meara after Afrey.
After his father’s death, Ben told the show today: “They found each other and were there for each other.
After October 5, 2025, it premiered at the New York Film Festival, Stiller & Meara: nothing will be lost in some theaters starting on October 17th, and Apple TV+ can be streamed on October 24th.
