In the trailer for his new documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, Ben Stiller says of his late parents, the comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, “They had this incredible marriage.”
But it wasn’t without its challenges as Stiller explores in the film, which premieres at the New York Film Festival on October 5. They forged the groundbreaking comedy duo Stiller & Meara in the 1960s and ‘70s, but had to balance the demands of career, romantic partnership and parenthood to Ben and his older sister Amy. Eventually, the comedy act split up, but the marriage of Stiller and Meara endured for more than 60 years.
Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost opens in select theaters on October 17 and will begin streaming on Apple TV+ on October 24. Watch the trailer for the film above.
Apple TV+ is home to Severance, the hit drama on which Ben Stiller serves as executive producer, co-showrunner, and director.
“I feel very fortunate to be partnering once again with the incredible team at Apple TV+, this time on a project that is very personal to me and my family,” Stiller said in a statement. “It’s exciting to finally get to share it with audiences; and a great honor to celebrate my parents, both as I knew them growing up, and as I’ve come to know them in new ways through the making of this film.”
Anne Meara died in 2015 at the age of 85; her husband Jerry Stiller died in 2020 at the age of 92. Following his parents’ passing, Ben “dug into the vast treasure trove of recordings, footage, letters, and other ephemera with which they documented their personal and professional lives,” the New York Film Festival writes in its program. “These extraordinary archives are the foundation of this immensely moving—and, of course, very funny—documentary, beautifully directed by Stiller and edited by Adam Kurnitz (The Velvet Underground, NYFF59), which charts, with love and candor, the challenges and insecurities that are part of any show-business family’s essential makeup.”
Along with siblings Ben and Amy, the documentary feature’s Ben’s wife, actress Christine Taylor Stiller, and a Stiller & Meara pal – actor Christopher Walken.
“Your father was a kind of a saint,” Walken tells Stiller in the trailer. “Your mom kind of scared me a little bit. She’d look at me, and I could tell she knows you’re up to no good.”
Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost is produced by Ben Stiller, Academy Award winner John Lesher (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Severance), Emmy Award nominee Geoffrey Richman (Severance, Tiger King) and Lizz Morhaim (The Super Models, Rebuilding Paradise). Executive producers include Academy Award nominee Bryn Mooser (Lifeboat, They Call Me Magic), Emmy Award nominee Justin Lacob (Free Leonard Peltier, The Lionheart) and Emmy Award winner Kathryn Everett (Daughters, Lakota Nation vs. United States), with Emmy Award nominee Matthew Cherchio (Diane Warren: Relentless) serving as supervising producer for XTR. Tony Hsieh and Andy Hsieh also executive produce.
Watch the trailer for Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost above.
