Adam McKay opens up about his messy breakup with Will Ferrell
Casting John C. Reilly in a part Ferrell wanted in McKay's upcoming Lakers show was apparently the final straw
Aux News Will Ferrell
Adam McKay hasn’t directed Will Ferrell—a guy who his career was once synonymous with—in a movie since 2013. (That was Anchorman 2.)
You could possibly chalk said professional split up to the divergent paths of the two long-time friends and producing partners’ careers, as McKay has focused in recent years on political movies like Vice and the upcoming Don’t Look Up (and building a wider production portfolio), and Ferrell put his focus on being, well, Will Ferrell: Professional funny actor guy.
Even when the two men announced, in 2019, that they were breaking up Gary Sanchez Productions, the company under which they co-executive produced most of their movies together (as well as hit shows like Drunk History and Succession), they did so with a statement emphasizing that the two SNL alums were still close friends.
Which turns out to have apparently been a lie.
That’s per a new Vanity Fair profile of McKay that ran this week, timed to the release of Don’t Look Up in theaters on December 10. Amidst sketch comedy reminiscences, climate anxieties, and a whole bunch of fictitious intros penned by McKay himself, the director and producer details his breakup with Ferrell, which appears to have extended past their business relationship and deeply into the personal.
Some of the split, unsurprisingly, came from McKay’s desire to move further and further away from comedy. The profile notes that he split with his and Ferrell’s mutual manager, Jimmy Miller, because Miller continued to push McKay to make movies with the actor. But the biggest split apparently came after the two men had dissolved Gary Sanchez. (Itself a tense conversation, apparently; McKay notes that, “It ended not well.”)
Specifically, McKay says Ferrell was deeply offended when McKay refused to cast him in his upcoming TV series about the Los Angeles Lakers as team owner Jerry Buss, a part Ferrell was apparently obsessed with playing. Making matters worse was who McKay offered the part to instead: Long-time collaborator, and Ferrell’s best friend and Step-Brothers co-star, John C. Reilly. “I fucked up on how I handled that,” McKay notes, admitting that he didn’t get in touch with Ferrell before making the decision public. Attempts to reach out to his long-time friend and partner since have not gone well:
“In my head, I was like, ‘We’ll let all this blow over. Six months to a year, we’ll sit down, we’ll laugh about it and go, It’s all business junk, who gives a shit? We worked together for 25 years. Are we really going to let this go away?’” But Ferrell, he continues, “took it as a way deeper hurt than I ever imagined and I tried to reach out to him, and I reminded him of some slights that were thrown my way that were never apologized for.”
It would be nice to imagine that this was all just another McKay-Ferrell bit (not un-akin to the fake scenarios McKay posits in his fake openings to the profile). But there does seem to be a fair amount of genuine emotion in his reactions to the break-up. “The whole time it was like I was saying it out loud,” McKay says. “‘Let’s not become an episode of Behind the Music. Don’t let it happen.’ And it happened.”
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“…and I reminded him of some slights that were thrown my way that were never apologized for.”
Well, now we know who the asshole actually was
Yeah, nothing mends fences like informing people that they aren’t entitled to feel hurt by your actions, for the following reasons…
Oh that is a load of grade A bullshit. Every person on this planet is entitled to feel any way they do about anything. Whether or not they act out because of said feelings isn’t all fine and dandy, but acting like Will Ferrell isn’t entitled to feeling hurt about being rejected for something he wanted is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard in my life.
Reading comprehension fail.
I’ll be the lone dissenting voice: depending on the context it can be fair game to bring up that the other person has treated you the same way you’re treating them.
He didn’t once say that Ferrel treated him the same way.
Only if that context is: we are having a relationship-ending conversation right now.
Hey, hey, there’s one other context – a deeply unhealthy relationship where you’ve already destroyed the other person’s confidence.
Yes, I took it more as a “if I can let these things slide, why can’t you let this things slide” kind of thing?
He might very well be right, but he should have asked himself if his goal was to defend his own actions or mend the friendship. If it turns out Ferrell did the same thing to McKay (bringing a project McKay wanted to another director) and McKay felt hurt but eventually let it slide, he’s justified in feeling like Ferrell is being an ass about taking the same thing so personally, but that’s the kind of conversation you have after emotions have been calmed, not before.
Sounds a lot like today’s political climate. Whataboutism, always a compelling convincer.
I read the whole thing and McKay comes off as kind of a phony, self absorbed, jerk well before that. Even in the first few paragraphs. The author of the piece is also fairly insufferable.I still like his movies in general.
True, but then that could also describe Ferrell too. The fact that the relationship imploded isn’t the surprise. The surprise is that it lasted as long as it did.
I mean. “Hollywood Producer” tells you everything you need to know
He probably sympathizes with all the Roys on Succession.
Overrated-trait of “sympathy” is not something which is induced.At the very least..On part of neurotypical folks, no?
phony, self absorbed, jerK? THATS HOLLYWOOD *puts on sunglasses ala david caruso*
I mean, it’s Hollywood. I think being a phony, self-absorbed jerk is a core part of the job description. That said, it just reads to me like someone who’s moved on artistically and professionally and his friend hasn’t and there’s no room for his old friend in his new projects, and the breakup with their shared manager seems to support this, since the manager was the one pushing him to make movies with Ferrell in them, probably at Ferrell’s behest. A situation like that never ends well, even if he had told him beforehand that he was casting someone else in the role.
Yeah, when someone does something shitty and says “It’s just business junk”, I can only assume they’re hoping like hell that the personal business between parties is strong enough to cover their asses when said “business junk” turns out to be an incredibly shitty thing to do to someone personally.Like, NO, if you’re working with someone you know personally, you never get to write anything off as “just business” (not that that non-excuse can ever properly excuse shitty business tactics).I know it’s “just business” that my last employer didn’t want to do certain things they were legally obligated to do, and yes, I still took that very personally, as well as understanding what a shitty business they were.I hope they’re drowning in “just business junk” right now…
I think Vice would have been better with a different director.
You meant like those who’re renowned for making “Zero Dark Thirty”?Or even better, “American Sniper”?
Sounds like a good strategy. I’m going to try that next time I’m fighting with my husband.
Pro tip: keep a list of grievances about your closest friends ready at all times, just so you have something off-topic to deflect with anytime someone has something mildly critical to say.
I’ve found saying “I forgive you” after any disagreement, whether or not I was at fault, always makes things better.
Are you careful to make it sound as patronizing as possible?
think you’d be better off…if you really want to offend your husband in the fight…if to have him catch you blowing a big nigger on the couch in your living room, and not offering him a lick!
It’s super effective! My husband loves it when I bring up past stuff.
Yep. You can’t make amends and burn bridges at the same time.
qualified apologies with accusations thrown in – is Adam McKay related to my mother?
Are we cousins?
“Sure, I broke your heart and stole your dreams. But remember when you took the last strawberry donut after I’d specifically asked it to be left for me? You remember that?!”
I was one hundred percent thinking “Will Ferrell is being an overwrought dork in this spat,” until this line. Truly amazing how people can’t help but tell on themselves.
I mean, they can both be terrible.
I mean, so far there is only evidence of one of them being terrible, so maybe only one is.
It can be two things!
what if he had said “there are other minor personal issues between us that havent been resolved” ?
I don’t know, finding out that something you’ve communicated repeatedly that you’re excited about to a long-time colleague only to discover via public announcement it’s been given to your best friend instead is pretty fucking harsh on its own.
Yeah, it’s a dick move, but I just can’t wrap my head around ending a friendship over it. I mean, the worst part is surely the fact that McKay didn’t tell him personally, rather than Reilly getting the part. But that’s the sort of thing where you communicate to a person just how bad they fucked up. That can be a calm and reasonable conversation between two adults, or a loud kicking and screaming bout that ends in a huff and resolves within a few weeks or months. I don’t picture either of these guys as fully self-actualized humans, but it still feels like a huge overreaction in isolation. On the other hand, I can imagine a scenario where maybe Ferrell was willing to rehabilitate the relationship after an extended breakup, but was entirely put off by McKay’s “Well you’re not perfect either, man” attitude. Especially if that’s a reflection of his personality that up until that point Ferrell had just learned to ignore. I’ve stopped talking to people when a moment crystalizes like that.
Yeah, I was Team Nobody until that line and then…wow. That’s how you mend fences with someone?
Not a good look.
Ramis and Murray all over again.
Smart.
Definitely Mckay, right?… Right? Because who the hell tries to apologize by throwing dirt from the past in someone’s face? That’s how to be a dick 101. Must’ve learned it on Skillshare. lol
In my experience, at least 50% of people?
Touche, that’s a jarring percentage to be sure, but not surprising if true.
Its called “fighting to win” it’ll piss people off, but it’ll let it be known you aren’t budging, which will test them.
sweep the leg. thats the endgame of arguments
Everyone knows that the best way to settle a dispute is with the counter accusation.
There’s nothing wrong with pointing out that both sides made mistakes and should move beyond them. What’s the alternative? Let someone treat you like shit and then throw a fit the first time you offend them? What kind of simp thinks like that?
My thoughts exactly. First, if he had any empathy at all, he had to know that Ferrell would have reacted poorly to not at least contacting him first about a role he was “obsessed with”, secondly to go straight to his long-time co-star who is the exact same physical type in casting terms, and then to act like the one who was hurt when it all comes out. Talent and empathy rarely go hand in hand, it seems.
Yeah, glad I’m not the only one who thought that.Also, I love french toast.
Both, just like most famous comedians.
“I’m here to say I’m sorry and demonstrate that I’m the bigger man because you never apologized to me” is a top contender for worst apology of all time. If they had any chance to collaborate on future projects, it went out the window the moment he clicked “send” on that email.
Glad to see I’m not the only one to whom that stuck out immediately
This was my thought exactly, like “To be fair you’ve hurt me before and I never said anything about it.”
This article doesn’t even say the whole story: McKay didn’t tell Ferrell he didn’t get the part; Riley had to go tell him himself!That’s the bit that would’ve hurt me. Not the part where he didn’t cast him. The part where the role Ferrell thought was his was given to one of his friends behind his back! I’m sure Riley and Ferrell’s friendship is just fine, because Riley handled the situation like an adult would.
Been there. Some things are better said in person, rather than email, but since I was the only one who was TRYING to communicate…???At least I’m not the one who tried to retake the family legacy by going full qtard, even tho the (non-immediate ancestor) person behind said legacy disavowed ALL the reasons after the war.
– Here’s an itemized list of thirty years of grievance.
– Sweet Jesus…
Ahhh, the brand of situation Passive Voice was CREATED for!
If you read the full article, I think it’s pretty obvious that he’s acknowledging he made a mistake in how he tried to offer his apology. He takes full responsibility for the breakdown in their personal relationship.
“I’m sorry, but” sure sounds like a great way to have handled this
McKay comes off as the asshole across the board in this one. Sure, it was his right not to cast Ferrell as Jerry Buss. I even think that was the right call, given the total lack of physical resemblance between the two. But yikes McKay shit the bed from there on out. So he doesn’t cast Ferrell, despite knowing how desperately he wanted the part and how much it meant to him. Then he casts Ferrell’s friend and arguably closest collaborator. Then he doesn’t even tell him about it but lets him find out through the media. Then he wonders why Ferrell is pissed and thinks all that’s necessary is a cooling off period. Then when he calls to patch things up, the does so by telling Ferrell that he, McKay, is the real aggrieved party here. Yikes. Just yikes.
He really should’ve known this would be how it played out because the exact same thing happened in Talledegha Nights when Reilly marries Ricky Bobby’s wife.
HA – Brilliant!
Reilly didn’t stand a chance once she turned the beam his way…
What on actual Earth?
“Then when he calls to patch things up, the does so by telling Ferrell that he, McKay, is the real aggrieved party here.”
And now he’s taking a private conflict public to try to position himself as the wronged party.What a mensch.
Comedian Mike Birbiglia has a great bit where the punchline he keeps coming back to is: “And what I should have said was…nothing.” I feel like someone should embroider that on a pillow for McKay or something.
Heh, I just watched Birbiglia’s stand-up special with that name a few months ago. It was good.
Probably my favorite Will Durant quote is “Nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say.”
“I know. I’m in the future also.”
To be fair, McKay also comes off as seeming incredibly upset and well aware he was in the wrong. The article says that McKay kept their production company going for years after it was logical to end it because he was scared of losing his friend. Ferrell in his recent profile has said he largely wants to do silly comedies, so it makes total sense why they went different paths. McKay should have cast Ferrell in that lakers show though.
Did no one read the original article?McKay had clearly been pushing for Ferrell but the other principle producers and writers pushed back.Those filmmakers didn’t want to be saddled with McKay’s friend. Is there a term for hiring an unqualified person just because of their personal relationship with those in charge?
This is what I was thinking. I suppose he decided that making his Variety interview juicier was more important.
Yes. I have a low opinion of Ferrell and his movies, but MacKay sounds like a rude child too.
I really think this is mostly a bit and the break-up of Gary Sanchez rest nearly entirely on Adam’s desire to go more political. Anchorman 2 being the last time the two worked together doesn’t necessarily work as a point because McKay still produced the Daddy’s Home movies and Ferrell’s tragicomic side would not have fit in either Vice or Big Short.Bonus fun fact: Adam McKay introduced Paul F Tompkins to Jay Johnston because they both owned zippos and McKay thought that meant they would become friends.
Zippos have an almost manufactured whimsy that I can imagine believing they’re similar to the likelihood of two people who like matchbox cars getting along, but really it’s probably a lot more like introducing two people who wear wristwatches to each other.
Maybe specific watches. I mean, a Rolex guy probably wouldn’t want to hang out with an Omega man. OK, he would but only so he can mock him behind his back. Neither one would be seen dead with the riff-raff wearing quartz.
My Swatch and I will be over in the corner sobbing quietly…
I hadn’t seen your reply until I posted mine, great minds and all…
Hi 5 fellow Swatchie(that’s what I call ourselves)!
So wait, “Swatchdogs” is out? Good. I hate that movie.
Yes, right out.
I got a limited release one in Brussels with the pissing statue pissing a rainbow, love that watch.
Where do the Swatch wearers go?
I’m guessing the Omega man would associate with them, since Swatch owns Omega. He would still feel am air of superiority though.
My wife doesn’t even know what swatches are…..that’s not good.
He’d be too busy fighting to keep the Family out of his stronghold.
Straight to hell.
How about a Zodiac?
The Rolex guy would probably still be a snob, but the Omega Man would definitely toss back a few refreshing beverages with him.
I own a zippo! Do I get to join the fun-gang?
Depends on where you were on Jan 6
I think you also need a moustache.
The break up of their production company was entirely due to differing interests. Ferrell has producer credits on things like succession that he has absolutely no involvement or interest in.
The break up of their friendship was after that though, and happened due to this Lakers show.
If I was a a casting director and had to choose between Ferrell and Riley to play Jerry Buss, I’d pick Riley. He’s a much more versatile performer, is better at drama, and even somewhat resembles the man.That said, it was kind of a dick move to cast Ferrell’s best bud in the part and let him find out about it in Variety.
Is Ferrell mad at Reilly for actually taking the role?? I’m just wondering. Seems like that would piss him off, too, don’t you think?
I was thinking that myself. But while actors can be petty with directors and producers, they tend to not fault other actors when they lose out on roles. It’s kind of bad form.The last thing Ferrell and Reilly were in together was Holmes and Watson. Reilly basically took a hiatus in 2019 after that debacle. He was in Moonbase 8 in 2020 and is in Licorice Pizza in addition to that Lakers project.
I get the impression from the article that Reilly at least reached out to Ferrell about the whole situation, which might have appeased matters somewhat.
It would have probably made Ferrell angrier at McKay. Reilly does the honourable thing and reaches out while McKay throws him under the bus.
It’s super cowardly not to tell him he’d cast someone else.
Under The Buss: A story of basketball and betrayal
Under Jeanie Buss: The Untold Story
Under Jeanie Buss: The Phil Jackson Story
Dammit. That’s so much better than mine.
Wouldn’t that be the Buss?ETA: Dammit, beaten to obvious joke
Problem is that he didn’t reach out, it’s WHEN he tried to reach out, which was after he had cast Riley, and had it promoted on a magazine that Will was bound to read.
True; I was meaning that Reilly’s actions may have appeased things between himself and Ferrell, not between Ferrell and McKay.
Ahhh that makes more sense. Is there any sort of tension between them atm though? If there is, then it’s been very subtle since I haven’t heard much of it.
Right, and then letting “‘six months to a year” go by to “let it all blow over.” AKA, ignoring them. If Ferrel told McKay to give him space, that would be one thing, but just letting all that time go by without making amends isn’t giving someone time to cool off. Letting a weekend, or even a week go by is one thing, but not a year. What a putz.
Agreed, making amends still seems like a new concept to most humans.
From what I understand, Farrell heard about it when Riley called him & told him.
In fact, Reilly is the person Ferrell found out from.
I think not because this is in no way Reilly’s fault if he even ever knew that part was offered to Farrell to begin with. It’s not really on him and I think actors of a certain caliber and range know that their all somewhat in competition with each other. It’s a totally different dynamic.
I doubt McKay would’ve told Reilly first that Ferrell really had his heart set on the role but he was giving it to Reilly instead, so there was probably no reason for Reilly to think it was any different than accepting any other role McKay might’ve offered him, and therefore no reason that Ferrell would be mad at Reilly simply for accepting a part.It’ll be interesting to see if Reilly actually ends up doing it now that he knows what a big deal it was to Ferrell. Kinda seems like McKay may have put them both off of the project by being so duplicitous about it.
This. I think McKay was a coward to let it go down like that. At the same time it’s clear he’s evolved artistically and professionally whereas Ferrell hasn’t, and there’s no easy way to say that to someone who was your best friend. It was going to end badly regardless, unless McKay agreed to make the same movies as he used to and to cast Ferrell in them.
Yeah, it definitely sounds like McKay was avoiding the difficult conversation and basically ghosted Ferrell like a crazy ex-girlfriend, hoping he’d get the message and just drop the idea of playing Buss.
All day. Reilly’s first 20-ish movies were serious roles where yes, he could flex his comedic muscles (e.g. Boogie Nights) but they were far from the Talledega Nights / Step Brothers vibe. Casualties of War, Days of Thunder, River Wild, Dolores Claiborne, Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Thin Red Line, Magnolia, Perfect Storm, The Good Girl, Gangs of New York (where he’s menacing as hell), Chicago and The Aviator were all before he did a major full-on comedic role.
Ferrell’s dramatic range mostly seems to various shades of moping.
Spot on! Reilly had what many would be consider a very productive career as a character actor, punctuated by some really great performances. He was also active on Broadway, garnering a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Play in 2000 for True West.I’m sure there were people who wondered if he’d lost his mind when he signed on for Talladega Nights.
I’ll go out on a limb and guess it paid more than anything he’d done to that point, and he discovered comedy was fun.
He’s still making money off of it if he got a percentage.
He’s a great comic actor, but we lost a Phillip Seymour Hoffman level great dramatic actor when he turned so hard towards comedy for a decade and a half.
Totally agree, when I heard that Reilly was cast for Buss, that just seemed like a no brainer. I don’t see Will Ferrell in that part at all.
According to the article, Reilly told Ferrell.
That’s probably why they seem to still be on a speaking basis.
It’s especially unprofessional to treat an actor you have a personal relationship and friendship with. It’s one thing if you don’t in which case you should definitely let a proxy to the actor know before any official announcements are made. But yeah Riley is a much better choice. I wonder is Farrell was hoping this would get him out of the parody comedy ghetto he pigeonholed himself into by doing something different again. He might be capable of drama but he also has a way deeper stigma gate to hop over to get people not to be instantly turned off by his involvement.
So true. I said in an earlier post that Ferrell’s history of goofball roles makes it very hard to take him seriously as a dramatic actor—like watching Groucho Marx play Hamlet.
Will Ferrell has been known to be a dick to people so I normally would not be 100% on his side.. But like Jesus McKay. Dude is your friend and really wants a role and he has to find out from media that you hired his other best friend? Come on, thats not “business stuff” and you have to be a psycho to not realize why he would be hurt… and throwing some stuff he did back at him sure as fuck didnt help.
Yeah, Ferrell did this exact same thing to Chris Kattan 20 years ago; Kattan talks about it in his book. After coming up through the Groundlings together, doing SNL, doing Night at the Roxbury, notice that Kattan has never once appeared in a single Will Ferrell movie. When Will Ferrell cuts you off, you’re cut off.
To be fair, everyone has cut off Kattan.
I’m waiting for the Kattanaissance.
Mango!?!
Mr. Peepers!?!
Shitty as that may be, he probably didn’t want to become Sandler dragging Rob Schneider around for the next 15 years.
Didn’t pretty much everyone on the cast hate Kattan anyway?
Hard to say. Few talk about him now, which may speak for itself. Amy Heckerling’s daughter responded to the rumors; the relationship was consensual, Lorne apparently wanted to put an end to it due to the obvious conflict of interest, and the affair mostly consisted of Kattan whining over the phone about not getting enough screen-time on SNL.
Not saying Kattan is a liar, but that last part is definitely on-brand for him from the other stories I’ve heard.
In an era where recurring characters were king, his were Mango and Mr. Peepers. Jesus.
Ironic because McKay has clearly being carrying Ferrell, ensuring he gets a producer credit on “Succession” for doing … something, I guess.
That’s not nice, but it’s probably for the best that Kattan isn’t in movies.
I’m calling it now: telethon reunion in about twenty years. Hopefully we’ll have the technology to bring Frank Sinatra back to life by then.
I thought they already did that with Harry Connick Jr.?
Uh-huh?!?Is that some “Eurovision” reference?Or..?
Casting makes sense though, as John C. Reilly is a proven dramatic actor many times over.
Sure but don’t make your longtime collaborator and supposed friend find that out from a press release.
Especially as it seems like Ferrell had already been cast before McKay decided to cast Reilly.
That said, Stranger than Fiction is one of the most intelligent movies ever made and Ferrell’s sense of comedy and tragedy in it is brilliant.
Of course not – Reilly was 100% the right choice here, he’s an accomplished dramatic actor with range – but for god’s sake don’t let Ferrell find out in the media.
He didn’t. He found out from Reilly (which is not great, either).
Indeed. He was known as a dramatic actor long before he started doing comedy. He was making movies and acting on Broadway (including musicals) while Ferrell was doing skits on SNL.
You know who left SNL the same year Ferrell began? Adam Sandler. If that guy can make Punch Drunk Love and Uncut Gems, bookending classics like Don’t Mess With the Zohan and The Ridiculous 6, I’m guessing pretty much everyone who ever had an association with SNL secretly believes they’re Richard Burton at this point.
….Zohan isnt bad. And i dont even like Sandler. That’s one of his only comedy flms that i can tolerate.
I know a few definitely could hold their own with Burton at the bar.While there are some who ended up movie stars, most cast members were in comedic roles post-SNL. Very few have done the transition to drama effectively—Robert Downey Jr., Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, Michael McKean, and Bill Murray come to mind.I think Ferrell is capable of doing effective drama in the right role, but his history of goofball comedies works against him—it comes across like Groucho Marx playing Hamlet.
Ferrell is a capable actor when used correctly and given the right material. He was clearly passionate for this lakers show, and mixed with his longest artistic partner, would have given his all here.
I generally like Ferrell as a side-role (Old School, Wedding Crashers) and less as a main character. His antics just get old for me eventually. Probably the only main character role in a comedy I liked was the Nascar one, and I think its because it was balanced out by an outstanding supporting cast. Can’t stand Step Brothers or Blades of Glory or Elf (my god I hate that movie). But, I agree that he can be a capable actor. I think Everything Must Go was outstanding. Same with Stranger Than Fiction. He’s odd but enjoyable in Winter Passing. And watching him go toe to toe with Duvall in Kicking and Screaming was better than I could have imagined. I’m inclined to agree with you. I think he could have excelled in this role.
The only thing that would have made Elf passable as a movie is the addition of a scene in which Ferrell takes it up the ass from a big, hulking nigger.
Have you seen The Campaign with Zach Galafanakis and him? The trailers were pretty terrible but holy fucking shit is that movie funny. Mostly because of Dylan McDermott’s psycho campaign manager.
Oh! I forgot about that one. Yeah, I liked The Campaign more than I expected. Again, I think because it’s balanced out by excellent side-characters. When the movie’s sole focus is just on Ferrell playing a SNL character in a two hour long skit, I can’t really handle it.
Pretty much my thoughts. He needs the right project for his shtick, and this ain’t it. Talladega, yes. Serious drama…I don’t think so.
He was good in “Stranger Than Fiction”. It was a random watch one night.
Agree. To be shut out of your passion project by your best friend and closest collaborator has to be a deep fuckin’ hurt.
Ferrell was quoted as saying:https://quipvid.com/watch/SUPrm6Xo
Just via his movies, it had appeared to me that McKay had crawled up his own ass and bought into his own bullshit as a creator. Apparently he’s done that as a person too. I’m sure Ferrell’s not the greatest guy in the world, but wow does McKay sound like the absolute worst.
You know how people said that Donald Trump was a poor person’s idea of a rich person? Adam McKay’s movies are a stupid person’s idea of smart movies.
Vice was the first movie I walked out from in 15 years. It was like a junior high debate team put on a pageant for the midterms. I couldn’t believe people were treating it as a serious film with anything worth saying.
Whatever his failings may be, The Big Short is a solid movie, IMO.
i’m not a completely stupid person and i loved The Big Short and think it’s a great movie, which it is. The Other Guys is also great and funny while also pushing the ideas of income inequality
Or a smart person’s idea of a dumb movie? Step Brothers is really, really dumb and it really, really makes me laugh.
When I refer to McKay films, I’m referring to The Big Short/Vice/DLU.
I wanna agree cause it’s such a good burn, but I can’t help but enjoy The Big Short. Guess I’m outing myself as dumb. I’m not saying the whole is without fault, but there are some great performances and scenes and little moments in The Big Short. Plus, the lovely Nicholas Britell score. But many of the things that charmed me with TBS felt sour in Vice. So I’m half stupid then, I s’pose.
If you look at it from a sketch comedy perspective it makes more sense. If you judge it by prestige movie standards you’re going to be disappointed.
Sorry I’m not grasping your meaning. Do you mean if I judge Vice as if it were a piece of sketch comedy?
I’m agreeing with you (however incoherently). If you look at Vice in relation to McKay’s other work, especially his stint on SNL, it’s just an extension of that. If you’re looking for Iannucci-style political satire, it’s not going to deliver. It’s a comedy first and foremost, informed by sketch work, and it delivers for the most part, even if the satire falls flat sometimes. Vice reminds me of Oliver Stone’s W. It’s just pointing out the absurdity that’s there without getting too deep into it.
Ah I see, yeah that makes sense. I was gonna say “I should rewatch Vice with that in mind and see if it plays different for me”, but actually you more put me in the mood to rewatch In the Loop : )
I really wanted to love vice, but vice was such an insufferably smug movie.
Yup. I can’t fucking stand McKay’s attempts at moving on from “dumb” comedies to supposed “prestige” films. I found The Big Short and Vice to be condescending, empty shells of movies (especially the latter), and not nearly as clever as they thought they were.
Ugh. The Big Short.“I’m short your house!”“Umm…only if I fail to make my mortgage payments and am foreclosed on by the bank while my equity is underwater.”Lewis’ book was superficial enough; McKay’s version was worse.
I try not to judge people by their faces, but Adam McKay just *looks* like a smug asshole.
I think he believed that the interest in the Big Short, was because of his brilliant directing and not because it was an “interesting” primer on exactly what happened. Vice is a worse version of the same obsession, to make the minutia of how these things happened compelling. We’ll see what don’t look up brings out of him and the theranos movie brings out of him, but I’m betting people are going to get over him soon. He might try to pivot back to comedy, but I don’t see how he gets there without Farrell, and the talent that would be interested to work with Farrell.
They both sound like a couple of cunts! And Ferrell is a lousy actor.
McKay’s last great moment was in The Other Guys when The Rock and Samuel L. Jackson heroically jumped off that building to their deaths. He ended the movie with a fucking powerpoint presentation on wealth inequality, and since then everything he’s made has been self-righteous horseshit. The camerawork on episode one of Succession made me nauseated. Anchorman and Step Brothers were great, but we can stop giving this guy a pass.
He does. Thought at the end of the day I think they outgrew each other, or McKay outgrew Ferrell as a collaborator and he should have been a better friend and mature adult and said it, instead of all this bullshit.
Psst!Psst!Stop telling on the likes of Mr Jordan Peele and Ms Lena Waithe under the armour of “Anonymous Cowardice” — people!Ohh.. waaiiitttt?What? It’s some-kinda _ethnocentrism_ to be smugly-dismissing about them, with the very same height of unself-awareness — ‘cus of essentially nothing more than oh-so-scientific parameter of boxing folks based on face-complexion?
Just so I have this straight here (pretend its a gay romantic comedy):Will and Adam were long term lovers who broke up and went on with their very successful lives.Adam had long wanted to make a film that Will had always envisioned he would have a part in. Alas, with the breakup it was no longer possible. Then, Will’s noted “best friend” John was cast in the part. Tell me, why is Will not bitch slapping John in this scenario? He dumped Adam, so he knew that bridge was burned. And now his “best friend” took his dream part?
Because Reilly talked to him about it? Like people do when they have an issue?
Because Ferrell found out from Reilly calling him to check that everything was on the level. It wasn’t, but that wasn’t Reilly’s fault.
The bigger thing is that in casting, as in many jobs, and especially at the level these folks are at, there’s a lot more than people’s feelings on the line when a casting decision is made and accepted and then abruptly dropped. Reilly couldn’t just quit the production without fucking over his agents and the folks at all levels of the production scheduled to shoot with him. It’d almost be an insurance issue at that point.
If a local community theater production of Oklahoma loses its Curly a week before tech, they can probably grab the local pastor and be fine, and no one was getting paid anyways if the show opens late, or indeed, not at all. You lose the star of a multi-million dollar filmed production, and even if you eventually replace him, a “simple” delay like that puts hundreds of people out thousands of dollars each. So it’s easy for tabloid readers to make this personal, because the only lens they look at Hollywood with is hurt feelings. That McKay talks about a lot of this as business may seem heartless, but it does accurately portray the reality that these decisions, once made, are far bigger than just McKay, Ferrell, and Reilly’s personal relationships with each other.
(Same Gay Romance Universe)It’s more like McKay and Farrell we’re on the rocks and were planning a vacation to see if their relationship had any spark left, but their mutual friend and sometimes threesome partner, Reilly happened to tell Farrell about a trip he was taking with McKay and Farrell, found out it’s the exact same trip and that Farrell has been apparently uninvited from without even so much as a talk about it between him and McKay. So it’s like fuck you for even trying bro, its a double burn on their history.Because it was never about Reilly, it was about the lack of respect McKay has for Farrell and their history together. It’s one thing to be done, but you actually have to tell the other person what’s up if you’ve been talking like you’re gonna get together again.
Making matters worse was who McKay offered the part to instead: Long-time collaborator, and Ferrell’s best friend and Step-Brothers co-star, John C. Reilly. “I fucked up on how I handled that,” McKay notes, admitting that he didn’t get in touch with Ferrell before making the decision public.Apparently that was the straw that broke the camel’s back:
He looks like his veritable persona in this get-up…!
Rich person drama alert!!!!!!!!
Singular.
McKay has focused in recent years on political movies like Vice and the upcoming Don’t Look Up (and building a wider production portfolio), and Ferrell put his focus on being, well, Will Ferrell: Professional funny actor guy. Ferrell was deeply offended when McKay refused to cast him in his upcoming TV series about the Los Angeles Lakers (drama) as team owner Jerry Buss, a part Ferrell was apparently obsessed with playing.
Cool, I was looking for a reason to not watch the movie he wrote with David Sirota.
Cut it out…!You’re just-another neoliberal, I get it.No need to brag you’re anything “special”
I always imagined Will Ferrell spent his off time sitting a room drunk, alternating between yelling and crying, “I’m Will fucking Ferrell”
MEATLOAF!
Bwahahahahah!#GoodOneThe degree depends upon: Silly jonk, or a genuine satire — though.
Why is the site constantly reloading and shifting as I’m trying to read (and even as I type this comment)? Please get your shit together!
Yeah, the constantly reloading ads blocking the page are getting pretty annoying.
two words: jim spanfeller
Your friend is never going to take not getting their dream role in your show. But you have to tell them before! Though something tells me Ferrell would be just as mad anyway. And Reilly is a far superior actor, that’s just a fact.
At least then the gentle reminders of how Ferrell failed to apologize for all the ways he wronged McKay over the years might have carried a little more weight.And yes, Reilly is a far better actor. Unless this Lakers project is some twisted comedy, portraying a real person requires a dramatic actor. That was Reilly’s bread and butter the first half of his career.He can still be funny as hell. I doubt Talladega Nights and Step Brothers would have been as good without him. Sure, they would have been funny, but I don’t think we’d still be watching them a on a monthly basis.
Reilly plays dense really well in comedies, which works great in those movies. But he’s got 10x more depth than Ferrell, at least at this point.
Definitely!Ferrell’s excursions into drama have all been comedy dramas. The only character I recall who had any more depth than Ricky Bobby was in Everything Must Go. That character was an alcoholic hitting rock bottom and Ferrell’s portrayal was actually somewhat sympathetic. But then, he was primarily a sad sack, which is in his wheelhouse.On the other hand, Reilly has portrayed some deep and diverse characters in his time, from the cuckolded Amos Hart (Mr. Cellophane) in Chicago, which got him an Oscar nomination, to the corrupt “Happy Jack” in Gangs of New York.
He looked like he would fuck you up in Gangs, especially early on with the Rabbits. Really the only time I can remember him using his size to that effect.
Yeah, he was pretty menacing in that role. Usually his dramatic characters have a touch of the clown in them. But in Happy Jack’s case that clownish facade hid a dangerous man.
I’m sure Ferrel would still have been upset — who wouldn’t be? — but adding insult to injury by not telling him *first*, let alone before doing a press release, is just adding fuel to the fire. You can minimize the amount of harm you do when you feel you have to make a tough decision, and McKay did it all wrong. Not that I care about McKay and Ferrel’s relationship, but it’s a good case study in how not to treat people we care about.
Ideally, he would have called Will BEFORE releasing or even writing the press release for this project. but OFW.
Sure, it felt rude. But when it comes to casting, Will Ferrell is “entitled” to nothing. That he would break up a long friendship over one casting decision, considering how rich and successful he is thanks to that guy, shows extreme immaturity and selfishness.
My main takeaway is that maintaining a good personal relationship while dealing with all these high profile projects and situations must be very difficult. There’s stuff here to make both sides look bad, but it seems to me that none of it necessarily makes anyone involved an evil person, it’s just a lot of emotions and failed communication… and business.I like McKay’s recent work. I don’t think there’s much of a place in it for Will Ferrell. He’s good at what he does, I guess, but it’s a narrow space for sure.
Eh, McKay cast Ferrell (who really wanted the part by the way) and then, when the production shifted to a different company, he decided that he wanted Reilly and cast him. And this is a direct quote from the articles about this from McKay: ‘“I should have called him and I didn’t,” said McKay. “And Reilly did, of course, because Reilly, he’s a stand-up guy.”’
So, he had at the very least, promised the role to Ferrell and then decided that Ferrell couldn’t do it and recast it, without doing the friendly thing of actually talking to Ferrell. I think there’s no way that this makes Ferrell look bad.
Maybe, and you can see a bunch of stuff that might have driven a wedge, even a permanent wedge, in the relationship, as a direct result of all of this big picture high profile shit (i.e. McKay moving on from comedy, etc.). But at the end of the day, it sure seems like the big break came as a result of a pretty basic thing: McKay’s failure to just pick up the phone (proverbially or otherwise) and say to his longtime collaborator “Hey, I know you really wanted this part, but we just felt it had to go to Reilly, but I wanted to let you know personally before we make the decision public,” a pretty basic interpersonal thing, and, frankly, a fairly common interpersonal failing (I’m betting we all know of a situation where someone avoided telling someone uncomfortable news for as long as possible, which ends up being counterproductive because everything snowballs as a result of that delay).
He’s good at doing “en vogue”( honest-subtitle: lazy; “Gervais”-esque) [style of ]comedies, verily.
This whole situation kind of falls in line with “Talladega Nights”, doesn’t it? Wonder if Ferrell’s wife will leave him for Reilly too….
There both jerks but that’s life. I think McKay comes off as holier than thou in this mess. Life is short enough as it is and how hard would it have been to sit down with Will & John either together or separate? And they broke up the company before all this happened. But people make choices. I will never be famous, but grew up in the 50’s-60’s and have lived life as if my parents are looking over my shoulders. How hard is it to be a decent person?
According to what McKay has said, they broke up the company because of all this.
They are* There! FTFY 😊
I think an important part of this is that McKay didn’t tell Ferrell at all about the Lakers role switch. It was John C. Reilly that called Ferrell to check in with him about it and then had to break the news to Ferrell that he got fired from a role and Reilly was his replacement! That’s pretty fucked up. McKay clearly had anxiety about telling Ferrell he was fired from the role and practiced the age-old art of avoidance, and it bit him in the ass. Like avoidance does for all of us. Things don’t get better, they fester.
movie will probably be a BUSST anyway. these….. are adults. grown up “men”.
You know, I don’t really care who behaved worse, this just bums me out. I like both of their work a lot.
Anybody wanna hear about my White People Problems?
Talk about an oh-so-most-enlightened take of all…!As antithetical to shitposting as it can possibly get.°
McKay’s last great moment was in The Other Guys when The Rock and Samuel L. Jackson heroically jumped off that building to their deaths. He ended the movie with a fucking powerpoint presentation on wealth inequality, and since then everything he’s made has been self-righteous horseshit. The camerawork on episode one of Succession made me nauseated. Anchorman and Step Brothers were great, but we can stop giving this guy a pass.
So that’s how Gary became Gloria Sanchez – which always confused me, I had no idea there was bad blood, Ferrell always seems above that shit, but it sounds like McKay really burned him – it sucks to watch that business ruin people and friendships.
It was incredibly shitty to air out dirty laundry this way to the press when Ferrell has not said anything – even when Ferrell had a big profile a month or two ago in Hollywood Reporter where he was talking about changes in his career over the last few years, a perfect opportunity, he said nothing. I remember Jim Breuer talking about his clashes with McKay at SNL. Given what a d-bag the former is these days, I don’t put a lot of stick in what he says, but this just reminded me that that was probably a lot of mutual d-bagginess going around. McKay is a brilliant talent, but this decision, whether it was to promote a movie, or just to try to get the story out there first, was a horrible idea, and I wouldn’t blame Ferrell if he never said a word to him again.
Breuer just descended more and more heavily into his hopeless stoner persona – I can see why a writer might get fed up with trying to figure out how to use a performer like that week after week.
and yet Pete Davidson has a career and lots of chicks/bangbabes.
He’s the new Jim Breuer?
Once you go public with this shit there’s no going back.
I used to like McKay, but it seems to me lately that there is just a lot of bitterness in what he does. He seems like the kind of person that would roast someone and after everyone is done laughing would say “no really though, I’m serious.” As opposed to Ferrell, who would do the same roast and laugh along with everyone. The comic shine has worn off Ferrell for me, but he at least seems like a decent guy. This thing with McKay sort of confirms to me that the sinister tone of a lot of his stuff is pretty easy for him to summon up.
Bwahahahahah!(‘Case you genuinely will to _deduce_ my take like you did their whole characters; paying attention to my other replies — and my parent-comment in this commenting-board/-forum in particular, should do.)
The bit in the Vanity Fair article where McKay talks about how he uses test screenings to edit his movies is baffling to me but also explains why his “serious” movies seem to lack any real teeth and have such baffling conclusions.
It’s very common for filmmakers to revise a movie after test screenings.
I mean, I wouldn’t have worked together again after Holmes & Watson, but okay.
Ouch!As hackneyed, as understandable — siiiiccckkk 🔥🔥🔥.
Thin skinned people with issues up the wazoo fell out, eh?……
Uh-huh?!?What does it have to do with a certain religious-mandate of a ritual?Wish to rephrase? Simplify, mayhaps?
Is that Adam McKay or Kim Jong-un in that photo at the top of the page?
You meant who’s that rebel standing beside a predictably-glorified State terrorist in this state of the world?
Because nothing says that you deeply regret the rift in your friendship and are willing to take any steps to heal it than going to Vanity Fair and airing all your dirty laundry in public. Sort of the Harold Ramis approach to mending Hollywood feuds.
At the end of the day, John C. Reilly is an accomplished actor, while Will Ferrell f’n sucks in dramatic roles. Or maybe the Lakers show will be a comedy where Jerry Buss just yells a bunch of improvised nonsense, in which case, yeah, Will Ferrell has a legit beef.
John C. Reilly is an actor who will make me see a movie I otherwise might not. Will Ferrell is an actor who will make me avoid a movie I might otherwise have been interested in. Adam McKay seems like a douche but a McKay/Reilly project sounds appealing and a McKay/Ferrell project does not.
Not sure which is worse, the interview or the trailer for McKay’s new movie. So much talent wasted.
Gotta be honest: Adam McKay’s movies have only gotten worse without Ferrell.
You think: #HotTake?
Yup. I have the brave stances no one else is willing to take.
Bwahahahahah!Sounds like the tagline an overrated Primetime Emmys® nominee in “LIVE* from New York” vanity-project would readily TRUMPet-around.
Disclaimer: This following texts aren’t meant for consumption by stereotypical Muricans.Good for him!“SNL” is a glorified-neoliberal test-tube. And hence, Mr Michaels is a glorified Capitalist old-fart who only cares about making as much moolah as safest as feasible, as he feasibly can.As for those non-Muricans who nevertheless got triggered by my “pC-SjW” prefacing( most likely ‘cus they reside in at least one of NATO-FVEY member countries, preferably ‘Euro Christian’-descended societies): Here’s something from Twitter which I would like to [almost-properly ]quote about Mr Ferrell:It’s always Will Ferrell who’s directly a part of the racist-ass skits and sketches on SNL.