10 Movie Scenes Too Crazy For Cinema
2. Torture Techniques In Meet The Parents
The original script for Meet the Parents had Ben Stiller's Greg Focker sneak into his father in law’s study only to find the CIA’s kidnapping and torture manuals on the desk. In 1997, two such training documents, each including chapters on "coercive techniques", had been declassified in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by The Baltimore Sun.
Uncomfortable with the idea, the CIA’s Hollywood liaison Chase Brandon proposed that they make the CIA connection by showing ‘a panoply of photographs’ of Robert DeNiro’s Jack Byrnes character with international figures.
The Universal executives loved the suggestion, and the final screenplay contained pics of DeNiro with people like President Bill Clinton - and no CIA association with real-world torture.