After spending years portraying Glinda in the Wicked films, Ariana Grande will get to show off her comedic chops in the upcoming movie Focker-In-Law — and Ben Stiller says he’s glad she’s shaking the franchise up.
“It was great to have her energy coming into this franchise that has been around a long time, and we hadn’t done for a very long time,” Stiller tells Entertainment Weekly. “She’s incredibly professional, and watching her on SNL, she knows comedy, and she was just a joy to work with.”
“I had a blast working with her, and I think what she brought to the movie is just a very, very new sensibility that also felt very much like it worked within the tone of the movie,” he added.
In the film, Ariana plays the partner of Henry, the adult son of Stiller’s Greg Focker. According to the actor, Ariana’s character has a “fun relationship” with Robert De Niro‘s character, Jack Byrnes, Greg Focker’s intimidating father-in-law.
“Watching him and her together — I can’t really give away too much, but the connection between them in the film is pretty fun,” he noted. “And it plays into the dynamic of Greg Focker always kind of being stuck on the outside.”
Stiller also has high praise for Benson Boone, his co-star in a new Super Bowl commercial for Instacart. Even though Benson has never acted before, Stiller said, “He just has this incredible ability to put himself out there.”
“What I was most excited about is that this guy’s really an actor, and it was cool to see that, ‘Oh, he could do this if he wanted to do it,'” Stiller added.
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