The sequel to Meet the Parents marked Barbra’s return to the silver screen in her 17th major motion picture. Meet the Fockers started filming in Los Angeles late April 2004. After wrapping in August, the film entered its post-production phase and was delivered to audiences December 2004.

Producer Jane Rosenthal remarked that “In our fantasy world, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand were our ‘dream team’” to play Ben Stiller’s parents. “The fact that they were initially intrigued with the idea was beyond our wildest dreams.” 

Jay Roach explained that “We wanted someone who was a truth-speaker, very direct and uninhibited” to play Roz Focker. “Barbra Streisand in real life is incredibly sweet and incredibly loving and also very direct.”

Rosenthal confirmed that director Jay Roach met with Streisand and Hoffman and that Stiller and De Niro put in calls to them, too.

Ben Stiller first had to convince Barbra Streisand to play his mother. “I had to cold call Barbra Streisand to get her to do ‘Meet the Fockers,’” Stiller said at Barbra’s Chaplin Award event, with a comedic wink. “The director, Jay Roach, said he talked to her and she was on the fence and he asked me to try and persuade her ... So I called ... I broke the ice by telling her that ‘The Main Event’ was better than ‘Raging Bull.’ She agreed. Then she asked me why she should do it—why she should do ‘Fockers,’ you know? It's not really easy to give Barbra Streisand career advice. Just ask Donna Karan. So I finally resorted to bending the truth a little bit and telling her that I was the world's biggest ‘Funny Girl’ fan. I said I knew every song, I had posters on my wall as a kid. I even played ‘Nate Arnstein’ in high school ...Then she told me it was ‘Nick.’ And I said I was confusing it with ‘Guys and Dolls.’  And then she said ‘What are you talking about?’ And I pretended it was bad cell reception and I hung up on her.

“But, finally we worked out the creative details—or as she calls it, money. Luckily she did it and I'm very proud to have worked with her.”

Streisad admitted “I felt I had settled into a relaxed way of living at this point in my life, not worrying about getting up at five in the morning. But Jay was very persuasive, and I adore him. It's always nice to be asked by a director who wants you, specifically, in a part.”

Screenwriters Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio, who did five rewrites of the Fockers script between June 2003 and January 2004, were on the set doing any last-minute changes. John Hamburg, also credited with writing Fockers, told the New Jersey Star Ledger how he rewrote the script for Streisand. He said he “looked back at all these old movies of hers like Owl and the Pussycat and What's Up, Doc?. She's funny, and she's got great comic timing. So this is a callback to that era of Barbra Streisand."

Carol Ramsey designed Streisand’s funky wardrobe for the film. “Barbra was a total delight,” Ramsey said. “She understands costume design and how important it is to the development of the character. She's a perfectionist but also an incredibly hard worker who is willing to stand for hours of fittings.”

Ramsey utilized a few pieces by designer Zandra Rhodes — Barbra’s pink and turquoise chiffon top in the engagement party scene; and the pink and black chiffon top in the wedding scene. The items that Ramsey designed herself were made at Western Costumes in Los Angeles.

In May 2004, Teri Polo’s publicist started placing stories in the news. In one story, Polo spoke about Barbra’s gift to the cast during her first days on the set. Actors, especially legends like Streisand, often begin film shoots by exchanging “good will” gifts to ease the nervousness of working together. Polo confessed, "She gave me a white chocolate lollipop in the shape of a breast.” Barbra’s gift was her way of showing her fellow cast mates she was OK with what Polo called “the film’s naughty scenes.” A cute story about Polo’s nickname for Barbra also made the news. Polo started calling Streisand “boob” on the set. “She answers to it too—just ask her,” Polo stated. 

As usual, tabloid news spread, too. One gossip column had Barbra storming off the set. Of course, she had not even begun filming yet! Another story told how Dustin Hoffman called Streisand “Barb” (which she hates) and equipped the crew with “Bush 2004” buttons to irk her. Another far-fetched but curious story had Barbra hiring a hypnotist to help her get some sleep.

When discussing Barbra’s opening scene in which she was shown doing stretches with her derriere facing the camera, co-producer John Poll said, “[Streisand] had come in the cutting room and Jay just wanted to make sure [the shot] was okay. She was great about it. She said, ‘Sure, it’s funny, go for it!’”

Jay Roach elaborated, “People had high expectations about what Barbra Streisand would do in her first film in a long time. She loved the idea of teasing them and having a specific reveal of her face after she’d been waving her hips around for a few minutes.”

Describing the Roz Focker look, Roach said, “Barbra was completely open and flexible [about her look in the film]. I was worried that she might have a very specific, kind of iconic ‘Barbra Streisand look’. I really wanted people to forget that it was Barbra Streisand altogether, if possible. She had the same instinct, so we changed the hair — she modeled her hair after Dustin’s wife, Lisa.”