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A new documentary by Ben Stiller is set to debut in October—and it hits especially close to home for longtime Upper West Siders.
Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost will premiere at the New York Film Festival before being released in select theaters on October 17 and streaming on Apple TV+ starting October 24. The film is both a tribute to Stiller’s famous parents—legendary comedy duo Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara—and a personal exploration of what it means to grow up in a family built on performance, ambition, and legacy.
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Much of that story takes place right here on the Upper West Side.Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara moved into 118 Riverside Drive in 1965, shortly after the birth of their first child, Amy. Ben was born not long after, and the family lived in the building for decades, eventually combining two units into a sprawling five-bedroom apartment adorned with memorabilia from their careers. Jerry and Anne remained fixtures of the neighborhood until their respective passings—Meara in 2015 and Stiller in 2020.
The new film draws heavily from the trove of material Jerry left behind, including more than 100 hours of personal recordings, some of which captured deeply private, unfiltered moments between the couple. In addition to chronicling the highs and lows of his parents’ 60-year marriage and creative partnership, Ben Stiller also turns the camera on himself—interviewing his wife, Christine Taylor, and their children as he reflects on how his upbringing shaped his own relationships and career.
In an interview with TIME magazine, Stiller explained that while his intention was to focus on his parents, he eventually realized that leaving himself out of the film would have felt “disingenuous.” As the article notes, “He could chronicle the ups and downs of a creative partnership and how that bled into their personal relationship. From there, he ended up exploring how, despite his own frustration with his parents’ absence for periods in his youth, he too became an intense workaholic like his dad in ways that resonated with his own children.”
The documentary also revisits pivotal moments in the lives of Jerry and Anne—from their rise to national fame in the 1960s with appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, to Meara’s foray into dramatic theater, and Jerry’s iconic late-career TV roles on “Seinfeld” and “King of Queens.” The film’s title—”Nothing Is Lost”—seems to capture both the archival depth of its source material and the emotional excavation involved in telling such a layered family story.
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Ben Stiller spent five years working on the film, a period that also coincided with a reconciliation with Taylor following a separation. Their children, now young adults, are beginning to chart their own creative paths—extending the Stiller-Meara legacy to a new generation.For Upper West Siders who remember spotting the couple on Riverside Drive, or who simply appreciate the family’s place in the cultural canon, the documentary offers both a look back and a timely release. As Stiller told TIME, “This really was like, hey, this is what our lives are, this is what it’s about.”
Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost premieres at NYFF before its theatrical release on October 17 and Apple TV+ debut on October 24.
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