NEED TO KNOW
Ariana Grande isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
Though the second installment of the 32-year-old’s blockbuster Wicked films hits theaters this week, Grande is already hard at work filming her next project — Focker In-Law.
The fourth film in the Meet the Parents franchise recently wrapped filming and in a new interview on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, Grande revealed that her role in the comedy is even more physically demanding than playing Glinda.
“It’s probably a lot less physically exhausting than Wicked,” Poehler said of Focker In-Law, during the Tuesday, Nov. 18 podcast.
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“No. I’m not kidding. I’m not kidding,” Grande shared. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but I have to say it because you’re gonna laugh your ass off — my character’s a triathlete.”
Grande is playing the role of Olivia Jones in the upcoming film, whom star Ben Stiller has previously shared will be linked to his fictional son in the movie.
“I spent yesterday doing burpees and high knees with Robert De Niro,” Grande said of her costar. “And he’s like, ‘Good job, Olivia. Good job.’ And it’s like, the craziest, the most humiliating man. I’m like, what is this movie? What are we doing? But I’m having a blast. It’s like it’s really special.”
Of her character, Grande noted, “She’s a lot of things. But a triathlete is one of them. There’s also a lot of biking in this movie.”
Ariana Grande/Instagram
Calling creator Stiller, 59, “an Olympian,” Grande shared that he and De Niro, 82, are regularly working out on set.
“I feel like I’m on the set of the Avengers. Between him and Bob, Mr. De Niro…,” Grande said before Poehler questioned whether De Niro was running in the mornings.
“Yes! At like, 4, 3:30,” Grande confirmed. “But I do love a good morning Pilates moment.”
Back in October, Grande shared photos from the Focker In-Law set to Instagram, writing, “These past few months have been so, so unimaginably special. i love my Fockers, and i love my Byrnes… so, so very much ♡ i will miss this bunch terribly. see you next november ! ♡”
During a pre-taped interview with Sheinelle Jones on the Today show on Nov. 18, Grande also praised her time on the comedy set.
“It was truly spectacular. I have grown up adoring Ben,” she said. “Every single person in the cast, I have grown up worshiping. So to be able to work with them and share creative space with them was a dream come true.”
