Anchorman and Step Brothers are two of the most celebrated comedy films of the century. But for Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay, things are far from laughter and smiles.
Shortly after Anchorman became a global hit in 2004, the pair launched production company, named Gary Sanchez, and released Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) and Step Brothers (2008).
But in 2019, they parted ways and closed down the company – a move that McKay has revealed was acrimonious and led to the pair falling out.
“We always got along great, we were tremendous creative partners,” McKay said of Ferrell. “The only thing that caused acrimony between us was when we decided to end our production company, Gary Sanchez. And I know it was reported one way or the other, but that was really it.
“It’s a shame because we had a great creative partnership,” he told Business Insider.
McKay claimed that Ferrell’s heart wasn’t in the company, as he favoured acting, stating: “I think both of us underestimated the complications that go with not just having a company, but a very successful company. We had it for a long time and did a lot of cool projects.
“Ferrell said it publicly: he was never someone who wanted to produce, so he was always half in and half out, but then he would love it and be proud of the company, but by the end, he wanted to move on. It had become too much extra work; it was never his passion.”
According to a 2021 interview with Ferrell, the reason for the split was due to McKay’s desire to produce a larger number of films than the actor had time to focus on.
“Adam was like, ‘I want to do this, and this, and this,’ he wanted growth and a sphere of influence, and I was just like, ‘I don’t know, that sounds like a lot that I have to keep track of,’” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
But McKay took responsibility for the fallout, claiming that Ferrell stopped talking to him when he cast his Step Brothers co-star John C Reilly in the HBO series Winning Time – in a role originally designed for his Anchorman lead.
“I should have called him and I didn’t,” McKay told Vanity Fair, also in 2021. “And Reilly did, of course, because Reilly, he’s a stand-up guy…I f***ed 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.”
At that time, he hadn’t spoken to Ferrell since 2019, but it’s unknown whether they’ve communicated since. The Independent has contacted Ferrell for comment.
McKay went on to direct Oscar-nominated films The Big Short (2015), Vice (2018) and Don’t Look Up (2021), and also produced Emmy-winning HBO drama Succession alongside Ferrell.
