Mary S. Park is a writer-reporter at PEOPLE. She has been writing about entertainment, celebrity and lifestyle for over a decade.
Matthew Broderick is getting real about which of his movies his kids haven't gotten around to watching yet.
On Saturday, June 15, the actor took part in a panel with Judd Apatow at the Tribeca Film Festival, and the director asked him which of his films his kids have seen so far. Broderick is dad to son James Wilkie, 21, and twin daughters Tabitha Hodge and Marion Loretta Elwell, 13 -- all of whom he shares with wife Sarah Jessica Parker.
After Apatow, 56, asked Broderick if he's shown his kids Inspector Gadget or Godzilla or if they "love" seeing their dad in the theater, the Ferris Bueller's Day Off star responded "no" to all three. Apatow then asked him if he's a "strict" parent.
"I can be a little. You know, 'Don't do that again.' Dad may be mad, but I think he might be so you better never do that again," Broderick said. "I don't think anybody would call me strict. But I am occasionally. I think I have some authority with them."
Apatow then asked if playing Ferris Bueller -- a character who "doesn't listen to parents or authority" -- has impacted how his kids see him. Broderick jokingly replied, "You're right. You're right. I have no standing. You're right. Okay."
Also during the conversation, Broderick discussed a lesson he learned from director Mike Nichols while working on 1988's Biloxi Blues. He said it's a lesson he's tried to instill in his son James -- who is following in Broderick's footsteps by getting into acting.
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"I just thought about it the other day because my son, who's been trying to act a little bit, was talking about a scene and I remember the direction that Mike gave me once," he explained. "I was telling a joke or something at a table full of guys. And they weren't laughing that much. And [Nichols] came over and said, 'You guys have to laugh.' He said, 'You can't play a king if the other actor won't bow.' "
"I thought that was a very profoundly good direction," Broderick continued. "You know, you do need the help of the [acting] partner because no matter how kingly you may act, if the guy doesn't put his head down, we're not kingly."
During the panel, Apatow shared a silly story about Robert De Niro and his very first experience at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2012. As Apatow explained, he and De Niro, 80, were part of a Q&A that year celebrating the 100th anniversary of Universal Studios, when he made a revelation about the Taxi Driver star: He says "cheese" when taking photos.
"And the whole time we're taking photos, he goes like this, 'Cheese!' What is he doing?" he said. "The best actor in the history of Earth has to say 'cheese' to create a smile."
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The Anchorman filmmaker then added that his wife, Leslie Mann, worked on a film with De Niro -- 2016's The Comedian -- and brought up the "cheese" conversation herself.
"And one day she says to [De Niro], you know, 'My husband said that when he took pictures with you, you were saying 'cheese.' "
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