Master of wit. Member of the original Frat Pack. Will Ferrell for many of us is a household name we’ve grown-up with, whether it be his phenomenal run on NBC staple Saturday Night Live, timeless classics like Elf or what’s to come next – that eagerly-awaited sequel to Zoolander which already has ‘broken the internet’ with a record-setting 52.5 million views in its first week.
Although this wasn’t Ferrell‘s first visit to the City, with the Toronto International Film Festival, Semi-Pro and The Campaign bringing him to Toronto in recent years, Fans and Media equally were excited to see him again as the red carpet was rolled-out at Scotiabank Theatre for a special Advance Screening of DADDY’S HOME.
Despite being a bit behind schedule worsened by inclement weather, Ferrell was generous with his face time and after doing a round of interviews, he quickly went in-theatre to introduce his new Comedy, before picking-up where he left-off with Media. Believe me, we’ve been on the Red Carpet circuit for years now and we’re lucky sometimes even to get a question in. Ferrell was a class act, giving thoughtful answers which go a level deeper than the Funnyman we think we know.
My Samsung S6 rang off the hook around 7:10 PM while Ferrell was on-stage before a packed theatre of Fans, many who hadn’t a clue he’d be coming. Already a bit nervous, my jaws dropped in disbelief that he singled me out, asking “Where’s Will Wong?”. Perhaps it’s because we share a name, perhaps our name had a fun ring to it, or maybe he googled us after learning that we’d be speaking on the Carpet? Whatever it was, we didn’t want to wake-up from it.
Special thanks to @DaveMABalwdin for sending this in:
So Will Ferrell just gave a shout out to @mrwillw at the #daddyshome screening…
— Dave Baldwin (@davemabaldwin) December 15, 2015
Thanks for the tickets to Daddy’s Home @mrwillw! Here’s something for you pic.twitter.com/J6yJwgwpRn — Tina (@tchan90) December 15, 2015
What is life again?
Daddy’s Home centers on a man named Brad (Ferrell), a smooth jazz radio executive whose world is turned upside-down after the birth father of his stepchildren, Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) re-enters the picture after a period of estrangement. Dead-set on reclaiming back his wife Sarah (Linda Cardellini) and kids, Dusty pulls-out all the stops, awakening Brad‘s competitive spirit and deepest insecurities in a full-on Battle of the Dads. Can there be only one Dad?
Decked-out in a perfectly-cut suit, the eloquent and gracious Ferrell made his way to us, the last outlet on the Carpet, still in great spirits. We expressed our gratitude for his shout-out earlier – an endorsement of the highest kind.
I point-out that often in Film, we see the stepparent not always in the most favourable light. What is refreshing about Daddy’s Home is that it gives us a completely new perspective. As Producer and Star of the Film, we ask about the importance of this story being told.
Ferrell says, “I think Daddy’s Home is more about the blended family, which is becoming more commonplace. It’s so unique. We don’t think we’ve seen this done before in a Family-Comedy.”. He adds, “Original Writer Brian Burns gives us a heightened version of his life and that’s how he pitched it to us. He’s a stepdad of two and he does everything by-the-book and is always there for them. Meanwhile the ‘real dad’ comes on weekends, takes them to Disneyland and buys them candy and Brian‘s left to pick-up the pieces on Monday and we kept laughing at this.”. “It’s the steady force having to deal with the tornado and there’s a lot of potential for comedy there.”.
The character Brad seems to know what he wants in life until Wahlberg‘s Dusty shows-up and from there his insecurities become amplified and it is his competitive spirit that drives the plot along. We ask the well-spoken and confident Ferrell about his own insecurities and after pausing to think, his response in true Ferrell form is hysterical.
He jokes, “My greatest insecurity is that Mark Wahlberg will be jealous of my one ab and that he won’t talk to me anymore.”.
We ask Ferrell about his upcoming projects, more specifically hoping he’ll dish on Zoolander 2 and his sassy fashion maven, Mugatu. And he does.
“I’ve got Zoolander 2 coming out and I had a great time reprising Mugatu. I’m working on reuniting with Adam McKay (Anchorman, Step Brothers, The Other Guys) and John C. Reilly on a Film about two guys who go down to protect the (southern U.S.) border.”.
We wish it were the Canadian-border though… He seemed to know enough about Canadian Politics, answering questions about our new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with another outlet earlier.
See our Chat:
#TrueStory: #WillFerrell walks into the Canadian Premiere for #DaddysHome and asks, “Where’s Will Wong?!?”. And I faint. #Toronto #The6ix Photo by @alyssamhurst. A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong (@mrwillwong) on
Paramount Pictures Canada release DADDY’S HOME on Christmas Day.
Review coming soon.
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong/Alyssa Hurst)
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