Ol Parker Would Love to Work with Daughter Nico, 21, as Her Career in Hollywood Takes Off (Exclusive)

Nico, whom Ol shares with ex Thandiwe Newton, has appeared in 'The Last of Us' and 'How to Train Your Dragon'

NEED TO KNOW

• Ol Parker praised his daughter Nico Parker’s success in major Hollywood roles, including HBO’s The Last of Us
• He joked about wanting to work with Nico, calling himself a “nepo dad”
• Ol directed Office Romance starring Jennifer Lopez, whom he called the “queen” of romantic comedies

Ol Parker thinks it's "amazing" how his daughter Nico Parker has built a successful acting career.

The Office Romance director, 57, spoke with PEOPLE exclusively at the film's world premiere at Los Angeles' Egyptian Theatre last month.

"I know, it's a thing, isn't it?" Ol replied when told that Nico, 21, has been blowing up with major Hollywood roles, including 2025's How to Train Your Dragon and playing Sarah on HBO's The Last of Us.

He joked that he "should be so lucky" for the chance to work with her.

"Yeah, she just wrapped the second How to Train Your Dragon," he said, referring to the forthcoming 2027 film. "She's killing it. Yeah, we hope to [work together] genuinely, because she's so good, but it's more requesting I can persuade her rather than the other way around."

As for what their collaboration would look like, Ol jokingly said he would "be the nepo dad" in their project or would be open to "anything."

"I think she's amazing," he said. "I put her on tape for things, and we love it. We have a really lovely time together and we laugh a lot. So, I think the only challenge would be that she would completely disrespect me on set and I'd have to be like, 'Can't talk to me like that.' Other people treat me, they don't take me that seriously, but they pretend to, and she's just incredibly rude."

However, she doesn't always take his advice when it comes to self-tapes. "She's just like, 'Crap. No.' Yeah, she's my kid. She has no respect, nor do I expect her to," Ol said.

Ol welcomed Nico in 2004 with his then-wife Thandiwe Newton. The two, who were married from 1998 to 2022, also share daughter Ripley Parker, 25.

In his latest project, Ol directed the new Netflix rom-com Office Romance, starring Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein. Lopez, 56, plays airline CEO Jackie, who finds herself in trouble after falling for her company's attorney, Daniel, played by Goldstein, 45, who also co-wrote the script with Joe Kelly.

"Yeah, it was a complete thrill," Ol told PEOPLE about being approached to direct the film. "I mean, obviously, I've seen Ted Lasso. Everyone's seen Ted Lasso. And so I loved their writing, Brett and Joe. … And so I was the inheritor of a fantastic package."

He continued, "It's the first film I've ever directed that I didn't write. And it's the first time I've ever wanted to direct someone else's script, but it was so good. I was like, 'Really? They want me?' And so yeah, I got lucky."

Ol, who previously directed 2018's Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and 2022's Ticket to Paradise, believes Lopez is the "queen" of romantic comedies.

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"I was going to say she's better at rom-coms than anybody else in the world," he said. "So I just sat at the monitor and ate biscuits, and she basically did it herself because she's the queen. She just knows. She gets every beat. She knows what you're looking for."

"There's a bit in the movie where she does this laugh, and on the day she didn't do the laugh that funny," he continued. "And she went, 'Hang on a second.' And she did this laugh down her phone and sent it to me, and it's in the movie and it gets a really big laugh and it was just like I listened to her do it on her phone and then it arrives and I'm like, 'Oh, she's so good.' She's a machine."

During Ol's conversation with PEOPLE, he also spoke about the "chemistry" between Lopez and Goldstein, as the Ted Lasso star wrote the film with only her in mind.

"Chemistry is immediate, or it's not. They're both really good actors," he said. "They can fake chemistry. I've worked on movies where the chemistry is fake, and that's okay. They can get away with it because they're really good. But there's nothing like when it's actually real, when it's true. The last thing I did, I got to work with George Clooney and Julia Roberts, who are brilliant friends, and so it was the same thing. They're just a natural ease to it, and it makes my life incredibly easy."

Office Romance is now streaming on Netflix.

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