Anchorman Director Adam McKay Says He's No Longer On Speaking Terms With Will Ferrell

Legendary director Adam McKay has opened up about why he and Will Ferrell are no longer on speaking terms.

The two have worked together on iconic films like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, The Other Guys and Step Brothers and they were all set to make magic again for an HBO show about the LA Lakers basketball team.

Funnyman Ferrell had been cast as Lakers franchise owner Jerry Buss, however McKay realised the actor didn't bare enough resemblance to the man.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, the director had a 'hyperrealistic' vision for the series and concluded that 'Ferrell just doesn't look like Jerry Buss, and he's not that vibe of a Jerry Buss'

After speaking to a few other people, he made the decision to dump Ferrell from the role and go with one of the actor's longtime collaborators: John C. Reilly.

The awkward part came when he neglected to tell Will that he was taken off the series and was understandably surprised when the call came from Reilly.

"I should have called him and I didn't," he revealed. "And Reilly did, of course, because Reilly, he's a stand-up guy.

"I f**ked up on how I handled that. It's the old thing of keep your side of the street clean. I should have just done everything by the book."

Ferrell was fuming over the snub and hasn't spoken to him properly since 2019 when they decided to split up Gloria Sanchez Productions, which was their combined production company.

McKay recalls that final conversation was frosty, to say the least.

"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**k, Ferrell's never going to talk to me again.' So it ended not well," the director said.

Yikes.

McKay thought the situation would resolve itself with a bit of time, however, two years on, he said Ferrell hasn't responded to his olive branches.

"In my head, I was like, 'We'll let all this blow over,'" he said. "[But Ferrell] 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 apologised for."

It's devastating to think these two might never work together again, however it looks like it takes more than time for some people to get over things.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Entertainment, Will Ferrell

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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