Adam McKay Explains the Reason Why His Longtime Friendship with Will Ferrell Ended, Reveals the Last Time They Spoke

Director Adam McKay, who was a frequent collaborator with comedian and actor Will Ferrell through their work together on Anchorman, Step Brothers, The Other Guys, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, and more, is finally explaining why they broke up their production company and why their longtime friendship came to an abrupt end.

The reason they no longer speak is all because of a casting choice that was made by Adam.

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Adam was working on an HBO limited series about the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team in the 1980s. He ended up casting his first choice, John C. Reilly, in the role of Jerry Buss, the team’s owner at the time, instead of Will.

While reflecting on that moment, Adam told Vanity Fair, “I f—ed up on how I handled that.”

“The truth is, the way the show was always going to be done, it’s hyperrealistic,” he added. “And Ferrell just doesn’t look like Jerry Buss, and he’s not that vibe of a Jerry Buss. And there were some people involved who were like, ‘We love Ferrell, he’s a genius, but we can’t see him doing it.’ It was a bit of a hard discussion.”

“I should have called him and I didn’t,” Adam said. “And Reilly did, of course, because Reilly, he’s a stand-up guy.”

Adam added, “Maybe there was a little shadow in there where I wasn’t able to confront a harsher, darker side of myself, that would ultimately err on the side of making the right casting choice over a lifelong friendship.”

In 2019, after this casting decision was made, Will and Adam split up their production company and in a statement said, “The two of us will always work together creatively and always be friends. And we recognize we are lucky as hell to end this venture as such.”

But Vanity Fair notes the statement was not true. “The last time they talked was a curt phone conversation agreeing to break up.” Adam recalled, “I said, ‘Well, I mean, we’re splitting up the company.’ And he basically was like, ‘Yeah, we are,’ and basically was like, ‘Have a good life.’ And I’m like, ‘F*ck, Ferrell’s never going to talk to me again.’ So it ended not well.”

from Just Jared https://ift.tt/2ZADabd