Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg
Teaming up for their fourth movie together, The Other Guys, Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay wanted to make a commentary on the cop buddy pictures that have been laying low lately. "They ran out of gas and went into the Hollywood jail for little bit, and we like the idea that we hadn't seen one in a while," said McKay on the set. "We also liked the idea that with [Bernie] Madoff stealing $70,000,000, what is crime anymore? The idea of busting drug dealers is almost quaint at this point."
So McKay and co-screenwriter Chris Henchy, later assisted by Ferrell, crafted a tale about two detective teams that compete for the "top cop" slot at their precinct when two superstar cops (Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson) disappear. And the story is set against the backdrop of a corporate crime case.
Adding to the off-kilter nature of their story, Ferrell and McKay wanted to cast Mark Wahlberg in an unusual comedic turn, and the action star was more than game. "I've been dying to do a comedy, and these guys took me to dinner, bought me some nice wine and asked me to do the movie," recalled Wahlberg. "I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' If you do the wrong kind of comedy, you never get the chance to do it again if you come from my kind of background, so having the opportunity to work with these guys was a dream come true. They actually wrote this part for me that was right up my alley, and I get to work with this guy [Ferrell], so it was a no-brainer for me."
During Fandango's set visit at the end of last year, the cast that was present and shooting were all in good spirits and on their game as they shot a scene where the main "other guys" (bumbling detective team Ferrell and Wahlberg) are taken off their financial crime case by their unhappy captain (Michael Keaton) while getting a ribbing from fellow officers Rob Riggle and Damon Wayans, Jr. about that and the fact that Wahlberg's character accidentally shot New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. (Yes, you read that right.)
There was plenty of mischievousness on and off camera. Prior to filming, Wahlberg traded jibes with someone who was not McKay about directing him. "That's Jimmy, the prop man," he revealed good-humoredly. "He's worked with Scorsese and Woody Allen. We've been fighting constantly since the movie started. I kind of shoved the chair out of the way with my foot before we started shooting, and he was like, 'They would never do that on a crime scene.' I was like, 'Dude, we're rehearsing, and it's a comedy. It ain't CSI.' Anyway, my character doesn't give a shit. He smashes anything. Will gets me in the car, and the first thing I do is rip the visor off and smash the dashboard. That's what I do."
That certainly sounds like a contrast to Ferrell's accountant character. But there is no "good cop-bad cop" scenario here. "I actually try to get him to play good cop-bad cop in the movie when we're confronting this guy," explained Wahlberg. "I say, 'I'll go hard, then you come in.' I tear into this guy, and the next thing you know he goes twice as bananas as me."
"I mishear him and think he says 'bad cop-bad cop'," quipped Ferrell.
"He says, 'Wow, I saw you go crazy. How am I going to top that?'" added Wahlberg. "He goes bananas. To see Steve Coogan's face when he goes nuts is pretty damn funny."
One memorable moment that Fandango witnessed occurred at the end of the aforementioned reprimand scene, when Ferrell "punched" Wayans and then left. Riggle made sure his partner and his beautiful face were not damaged, which led to Riggle calling him by his first name and inappropriately expressing his devotion to his partner by caressing his visage. The unexpected, improvised bit had many of the cast and crew in stitches.
"There are moments [on this film] that require a certain amount of gravitas," explained Riggle, "but they are very few and far between. It's an Adam McKay movie. There's going to be a lot of improvising."
"[And ]a lot of funny," added Wayans. "Usually in action movies there's a lot of action with a little bit of comedy, or comedy with no action, and he put both of those worlds together perfectly in this movie. It's nonstop, balls-to-the-wall funny plus crazy, Bourne Identity action. It's sick!"
Add into the mix the comedic improvisational of its talented cast, and The Other Guys promises to be ripe with off-the-cuff bits. "There are story points that you have to hit, but I don't think Adam or myself are precious about anything," stated writer Henchy. "We encourage everybody to have these alt[ernate take]s."
"I would never say there isn't anything we wouldn't try an alt on," added McKay. "We always get the 'as written' every single time because we know at least we have that, and then you can play with it."
Even though oodles of cop comedies have been done over the years, McKay said they did not feel crowded by them. Even the two big franchises The Naked Gun and Police Academy "were so heightened that they didn't bump with us at all. Otherwise what's really nice about the cop genre is that it's a genre that's so exhausted that it puts the emphasis on character. Barney Miller is one of my all-time favorite shows, and it was almost incidental that it was a cop show at that point. It's sort of like doing a job interview sketch. I like doing job interview sketches because there are so many of them, but the emphasis is not on the premise, it's more on what you do with it. In that way it was oddly freeing. We're kind of able to do we wanted with it."
On top of the comic shenanigans, the movie will offer up plenty of action with car chases, shootouts and fight scenes brought in for good measure. But these are not being treated as a joke -- producer Patrick Crowley and director of photography Oliver Wood are both alumni of the Bourne trilogy and brought some grittiness to the production. McKay noted that the scenario mirrored how he shot the race scenes for Talladega Nights and tried to keep them as real as possible.
The Other Guys cast acknowledged the strong collaborative vibe that McKay brings to his movies. Ferrell said he is that rare director who will give someone credit, whether it is an actor or crew person. He keeps an open mind and encourages improv while trying to maintain the storyline that is going on. It's been a comfortable environment for the actors, especially Michael Keaton, who felt like he was getting back on his game by dealing with a cast that is seasoned at spontaneous comedy.
"This has probably been the most fun job I've ever had," declared Keaton. "Coming to work on this thing is like a vacation. Today I walk off the set and watch Riggle go nuts. I mean, how bad is this job? I go to a nice hotel, have a little dinner, I wake up and come back and do it again. This is ridiculously great. I've always found that improvising in character is a lot more fun and a lot more challenging than just going off. Here, we'll just go out there, but even though Rob is in his own world, he's still within his own character. I think Adam rides herd and watches that. On the set he says enough things to bring it back so the story is still moving along and [he's] also cognizant of getting into the editing room to make sure it still makes sense."
Getting back to the earlier Derek Jeter gag, Wahlberg said that the writers were nice enough to write that bit for him, and joked that the shortstop "was dumb enough to agree to do it. No, I took great pleasure [in] that, especially after them winning the World Series. We wanted him to show up in a good mood, and the Red Sox were out of it anyway, so I was okay with that. But I got to have my cake and eat it, too. We were sitting there eating and talking, and I said, 'Do you know what this movie is going to play like in Boston?' I have to wear a Knicks jersey and pretend to be a New York fan, but just to have that [shooting moment] is going to cement me as a hero in Boston for the rest of my life."
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