Adam McKay says in a new interview with Business Insider that he’s “totally open to the idea” of working with Will Ferrell again. The duo behind some of the most beloved comedies of the 2000s (Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers) infamously split in 2019, severing their creative partnership, including the Gary Sanchez production banner they founded in 2006.
“I fully embraced the idea. We always got along well and were great creative partners,” McKay said of his former collaborator. “The only thing that caused a rift between us was when we decided to exit our production company, Gary Sanchez. And I know that was reported in some way, but that’s really all there was to it.”
“It’s a shame because we had a great creative partnership,” he continued. “I think we both underestimated the complexity that comes with not only having a company, but a very successful company. We’ve had the company for a long time and we’ve done a lot of great projects, and Ferrell has said that publicly. He was never someone who wanted to produce, so he was always half in, half out. But then, he loved it and was proud of the company, but in the end he wanted to move on. It was becoming too much work. It wasn’t his passion. But the life of a movie star is very different from that of a writer and director, so we broke up. ”
Ferrell told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2021 that the reason for his breakup with McKay was “bandwidth,” noting McKay’s increased producer responsibilities. The actor said at the time, “Adam was like, ‘I want to do this and this and this,’ and he wanted a scope of growth and influence. And I was like, ‘I don’t know, it seems like there’s a lot to document.'”
However, McKay told Vanity Fair a month later a different story. He said the decisive blow to his relationship with Ferrell was when McKay cast John C. Reilly instead of Ferrell to play Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss on the HBO series “Winning Time.” Ferrell was scheduled to appear on the show, but McKay hired Riley behind Ferrell’s back.
“I should have called him, but I didn’t,” McKay said at the time. “And of course Riley did, because Riley is a stand-up guy…I screwed up in that response. Keeping the side of the street clean is old school. I should have done everything by the book.”
McKay later revealed that the last time he spoke to Ferrell was a phone conversation in which they discussed shutting down their production company. “I said, “What you mean is, we’re splitting up the company.” And he was basically like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” and he was basically like, “Have a good life.” And I’m thinking, “Damn, Ferrell will never talk to me again.” So it didn’t end well. ”
“In my head I thought, ‘Let’s just let this all go down the drain. Let’s sit there for six months to a year and laugh about it and leave, it’s all business crap, who cares? We’ve been working together for 25 years. Are we really going to let this go down the drain?”[Ferrell]took that as a deeper hurt than I could have imagined, so I tried to reach out to him and reminded him of all the disrespect that was thrown at me, but he never apologized,” McKay added.
McKay spoke to Business Insider to commemorate the 20th anniversary of “Talladega Nights,” in which Ferrell starred as bumbling NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby. The film will return to theaters to celebrate this milestone with screening times June 28, June 30, and July 1. McKay revealed to the publication that a sequel to “Talladega Nights” was discussed after the success of the original version, but it was never developed beyond the story stage.
“The idea for Talladega Nights 2 was that Ricky Bobby would be on an F1 team, racing in Denmark or the Netherlands, and feeling like he was in a communist country with nationalized health care,” McKay said. “So not only would they struggle with the speed of the F1 cars, but they would also be in conflict with Europe, which is more far left-leaning than America.”
“The only reason we didn’t do this is because filming race car stuff is a lot of work,” the director added. “The next thing I wanted to do was ‘Step Brothers’ because I thought, ‘Maybe I can do some comedy in my house?’ After ‘Talladega Nights,’ I was tired. I didn’t get to the point where I created Therapeutic.”
Visit Business Insider’s website to read McKay’s full interview.
