- 4 hours ago
In this episode of Scene Selection, Will Ferrell revisits some of the most iconic moments from his career. From Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Elf to Step Brothers and more, Ferrell breaks down the unforgettable scenes that helped define a generation of comedy. Watch as Will shares behind-the-scenes stories, reflects on his collaborations, and reveals what he remembers from filming some of his most beloved roles.
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00:00I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt because it says like I want to be formal but
00:06I'm here to
00:06party too. Is it sad that I laugh that much at my own stuff? Yeah. Hi I'm Will Ferrell and
00:13today
00:13I'm going to be re-watching some of the scenes from throughout my career and we'll start right now.
00:44One of my favorite scenes in the movie. It's such an incredible joke bag. Before we get into the fight
00:51Brick Tamlin played by Steve Carell is holding a grenade. We don't know how he got a hold of it.
00:56There is a man on fire. There is someone being dragged by a net by horseback which is kind of
01:05an
01:05homage to early Planet of the Apes. I think it's something like 30 to 35 different setups with two
01:17units. A stunt unit working at the same time as the main film unit in downtown LA in the middle
01:25of
01:25July and I think it was 100 degrees that day. It's so damn hot! And we only had the one
01:30day to
01:32um to complete all that and it's probably a scene that should have taken three days to shoot. So
01:39silly, so absurdist. I think it is really one of the touchstone moments that defines the tone of
01:45of of Anchorman. I think Adam and I wanted to create this film where we got to indulge every comedy
01:53idea we ever had and follow it all the way through without someone telling us no that seems too long.
01:59No one would ever do that. That doesn't make sense. And we just wanted to be like it may not
02:03make sense
02:04but it's just funny. I think when people saw that film they're like this feels like someone gave you
02:10the keys to a car and you're five years old and you don't know how to drive. No one wanted
02:15to make
02:15it. No one understood why this would be funny. We just felt like we were playing with the house's money
02:20and let's just make the craziest film we can because we may never be allowed to make another movie ever
02:27again.
02:35You're tiny Jesus and your golden fleece diapers with your tiny little fat balled up fist pawing.
02:42It was a man. He had a beard. Look I like the baby version the best. Do you hear me?
02:47I win the races and
02:48I get the money. I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt because it says like I want
02:53to be formal
02:54but I'm here to party too because I like to party so I like my Jesus to party.
02:59Is it sad that I laugh that much at my own stuff? Yeah. Of course it makes sense that they
03:04would pray
03:05before having a meal but the fact that Ricky's obsessed with the baby Jesus and to just follow
03:11that thread to the end and shooting those kind of scenes around a dinner table or lunch table it
03:18it's painstaking. That took all day for maybe a two minute two and a half minute scene. We were having
03:24so much fun. I remember feeding lines to the kids and the camera operator was laughing so hard he called
03:34cut himself. He was like I'm sorry it's so unprofessional I can't stop laughing and I don't
03:40think you can use that take the camera's just bouncing and because we just kept feeding every line we could
03:45think of. Shut up Chip or I'll go ape shit on your ass. I'm gonna scissor kick you in the
03:50back of the
03:51head. I'm 10 years old but I'll beat your ass. Chip I'm gonna come at you like a spider monkey.
03:57Greatest generation my ass Tom Brokaw is a punk. Chip I'm gonna jack up on Mountain Dew.
04:03What's fun about that is I've now I've been sent sermons from other pastors at churches who have
04:12taken excerpts of that scene and have presented it to you know their congregation and you know that
04:19stuff's just it's really cool. We also having fun in our own way with kind of the gross exploitation
04:26of product placements and how they had to mention endorsements in a family prayer as if anyone was
04:33watching. Also due to a binding endorsement contract that stipulates I mentioned Powerade
04:37at each grace. I just want to say that Powerade is delicious and it cools you off on a hot
04:43summer day
04:44and we look forward to Powerade's release of Mystic Mountain Blueberry. It's always fun when you can have
04:50a little satirical glint to some of the stuff you're doing. When that film came out a little bit of
04:57what I
04:57heard about was the reaction to Blazing Saddles from Mel Brooks. He said that they were really worried
05:04about the middle of the country and how they would react to a movie like that and he said you
05:12know
05:12where we sold the most movie tickets? Texas and Talladega did that like race fans were satisfied. I
05:18had people, NASCAR fans going thanks for being true to the sport. I was like oh you're welcome. Wait did
05:24we? Oh yeah we did. And then people on in LA and New York going how did they let you
05:30make that movie? It was
05:31so fun to kind of split the difference and satisfy both audiences.
05:40It's time for an announcement. Okay. Okay people tomorrow morning 10 a.m. Santa's coming to town.
05:47Santa! Oh my god! So here's what's funny about this scene in Elf is that I don't think we ever
05:54rehearsed it. Faison in that scene who plays the manager that's the first time. If you watch that
06:01clip again he's barely hanging on. I don't even think I told the Jon Favreau the director that I
06:06was going to play it that way but it wasn't like it got a big crew laugh either. It was
06:11just like
06:12Will's acting crazy what's going on. I love that that became such a big part of the film. Another fun
06:18fact
06:18is that toy store is shot in an old mental hospital in Vancouver Canada. We use that as the interior
06:27of
06:28the department store. So no one knows that till now. That scene specifically it's a real metaphor
06:36for the entire character. The fun of this movie is going to be a fish out of water story. Buddy's
06:41going
06:41to have to be so excited about discovering this new world and and the game is going to be that
06:49he finds joy in the most mundane thing that those of us in the human world take for granted. And
06:55so
06:56we kept trying to challenge ourselves to what would logically make sense. And of course he's away from
07:01home and he doesn't realize that it's not a real Santa. So the fact that a Santa is coming to
07:06visit
07:06that would be his reaction. Not only because Santa's one of his favorite people but at the relief
07:14that he's finally going to come across someone he knows really well. I know him. You'll be here to
07:20take pictures with all the children. Just keep your receipts. 10 a.m tomorrow. 10 a.m tomorrow. Santa's
07:27coming to town. Yes. John really had such a vision as to what this movie could be. I think he
07:35really was
07:35cognizant of trying to make it feel like a classic. Like a like a film that he kind of
07:41you know felt nostalgic for. And that comes through and I think in his choice of music
07:47it was his idea to kind of shoot the North Pole through with the forced perspective. Not really use
07:53any CGI which was really challenging at times. I think we were we were a good combination is that
08:00I pushed for a little bit more of the silly comedy. He pushed for more of of the heart and
08:09between that tug of war that's a no it's a train. There's a train that's coming to pick me up.
08:17I travel by train. Little miniature train. My oldest son didn't like watching it because he's like dad I don't
08:26like it when that man yells at you. So when James Caan gets mad at me and sends me away
08:32he's like I
08:32can't I don't like it when he's mean to you. So that was his last time. He watched it.
08:44I've been here for two weeks and I'm walking around this place thinking I've got a huge doucher
08:49for a stepbrother. Secretly you're not a doucher. Let's play a game. All right. On the count of three
08:56name your favorite dinosaur. Really fun heightened exploration of what would these two 40 year old
09:03men who are still kids have in their possession. Of course a samurai sword. Signed by Randy Jackson.
09:10Why do you have it signed? Well I ran into him at the airport. I'm not gonna not get his
09:14autograph.
09:15Which I've had many a TSA officers ask me uh you don't have a samurai sword with you. I'm like
09:20no I do
09:21not. But night vision goggles. Most favorite magazine non-pornographic to masturbate to.
09:27Good housekeeping. Favorite celebrity you have a crush uh John Stamos. Favorite you know dinosaur
09:33Velociraptor. To have that build to become did we just become best friends and then do you want to
09:38destroy things in the garage. Yes let's go do it. That kind of kicks off their friendship and is a
09:43tonal marker as to what is going to happen throughout the rest of this film. If you were a chick
09:48who's the
09:49one guy you would sleep with. John Stamos. I don't know if I've ever heard from John Stamos but I
09:54think if it was bad I would have heard. I think he's happy right? How could he not be? Yeah.
10:07Where is Burt Reynolds? What Burt Reynolds poet? It just vanished. He was never here Trebek.
10:12Yes he was. No he wasn't. I didn't write that sketch ever so it was felt like such a
10:19gift to get to do Alex Trebek. I had impersonated Trebek at a sketch at the Groundlings way back
10:27in the day. Oh Mr. Schiff did you hear that? She said she wants you back. I forget if they
10:31were
10:31already working on a Jeopardy. I was like by the way I can do an Alex Trebek and my impersonations
10:37on that show I wasn't as gifted as a technician as like Daryl Hammond was who could do a voice
10:45letter perfect. I always had to infuse it was always going to be a little part of me in in
10:50every
10:51impersonation so it was just fun to to show this other side of this guy who was so buttoned down
10:57and perfect and never lost his temper in in real life but to have him be exasperated uh with idiot
11:04celebrities was just very pleasing. Negative 69 dollars okay that wasn't your score. Well 69 is how I scored
11:11with your mother last night. Ow. Let's just move on to the category for Double Jeopardy. Alex always
11:23being tormented by Sean Connery. I was always fascinated the writers could come up with a new
11:28category that Sean Connery would interpret it in a very vulgar way. I'll take the rapists for 200.
11:35right now. That's therapists. And Norm would always play Burt Reynolds and Norm there was one of the
11:43times oh this light just went out do we care? Maybe that was Norm trying to reach me from the
11:48other
11:48side maybe. Of course Trebek would always get so exasperated at Burt Reynolds and there was one of the
11:55ones I think it's one where Norm just shows up wearing a big foam cowboy hat for no reason. Trebek
12:00loses
12:01his his his his shit on on and the sketch kind of ended with with me screaming at him. Good
12:07night!
12:08Would you get that off me! Then we walked off you know we're changing for the next thing and Norm's
12:14like
12:14hey are you mad at me? I go what do you mean? He's like well you really got upset. I'm
12:20like no Norm I'm
12:21just playing a character. I that's how good an actor I am. But I'll always remember Norm thinking I was
12:27really upset with him. You know but of course I was not.
12:37What's that? You're gonna have to speak up louder than that. Oh you want to go far. You want to
12:44go
12:44into outer space. You're gonna go flying through that air screaming your head off with pure ecstasy
12:52as you explode into the cosmos. Do the damn thing. Okay let's do it. Let's go for a ride. This
12:59is in the
12:59first episode of The Hawk and we established the fact that Lonnie Hawkins my character loves to talk
13:07to his golf ball which I think was an idea maybe pitched by David Gordon Green who's one of our
13:15producers and directed the pilot and we set up this ritual that he has a relationship with the golf ball
13:22which I bet you there's some golfers who talk to a golf ball because it seems to make sense.
13:28It's fun that that he thinks talking to this inanimate object will actually have an influence
13:36that's on his game.
13:46That's how it's done. That's how it's done. To get to have the luxury of 10 episodes where
13:55you get to really build this character and you get to see you know all the quirks and you have
14:01kind of fun little details all along the way and to have it be irreverent and a little more r
14:08-rated
14:08strong pg-13 and to where you know a cast doesn't feel inhibited and it's kind of hearkening back to
14:17old school stepbrothers things where we really kind of let it rip. It's just so much fun. It's so much
14:23fun
14:23to kind of return to that. I mean the show has much more depth and heart than I thought it
14:30was going
14:30to have when we first set up but I'm really happy it has both. I love kind of being able
14:36to return to
14:37something like this. That is the stupidest question I've ever been asked. Of course I do.
14:45Do I not look like a golfer? I'm really good.
14:52The next question. I don't want to get into that.
14:55I'm like a 17. Okay. But you don't even know what that means do you?
15:00It's not a birdie.
15:01No it's not. It's okay you really don't know.
15:05Okay well just continue.
15:15Well this has been an amazing stroll down memory lane.
15:18It's not a birdie.
15:24It's not a birdie.
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