LOS ANGELES?Will Ferrell in children?s underwear. Trying not to laugh at that sight was the toughest challenge for Danny McBride when he was filming the comedy-adventure, ?Land of the Lost,? with the comedian. ?It?s constantly hard not to crack up around Will,? admitted Danny, whose credits include ?Tropic Thunder,? ?Observe and Report,? ?Pineapple Express,? ?Fanboys? and ?Superbad.?
In the movie adaptation of Sid and Marty Krofft?s 1970s children?s TV show, Will, who?s not known to be bashful about baring his body for art?s, okay, for comedy?s sake, runs around in his underpants. In separate interviews, Danny, Anna Friel (?Pushing Daisies?) and Will talked about the peculiar challenges of filming a movie with dinosaurs, primitive mosquitoes, ape-like creatures, and a man running for his life wearing nothing but a boy?s underwear.
Instances
?Seeing Will wear children?s underwear definitely doesn?t make it easier,? Danny said about his often-losing battle not to crack up. ?He?s wearing pajama underwear for little kids?it?s crazy! You?re thinking, ?I?m in a scene with Will, and he?s half naked!? But, then, Will can make me laugh even when he?s not talking. There were instances when the cameras would start rolling, and he would bear into you with his eyes, and you?re like, ?Oh God, I can?t look at him right now!??
The England-born Anna revealed her unique trick (something to do with the female anatomy, believe it or not) to avoid chuckling in her scenes with Will. She shared: ?I have a good secret, and I don?t know if I should share it. It?s a trick taught to me by Brenda Fricker, who has an Oscar (Best Supporting Actress for ?My Left Foot? in 1990). She?s wonderful, and she played my mother in two films. She?s my mentor. She taught me many acting tips, including using certain female muscles, and I found that using the same technique with those muscles prevented me from laughing, because I had to concentrate. Women who have had a baby do it?it?s called pelvic floor exercise. It also helps with not laughing, which I?m doing right now. That?s far too much information, but that?s the truth.?
Asked if he starts working out if he reads in a script that he has a scene in underpants, Will answered, ?I don?t have to do anything (laughing). I just walk on the set and say, ?Roll camera.?? He deadpanned, ?I was working out a lot during the course of the movie, but I guess I have a body that, no matter how much I work out, well??
Does he ever get embarrassed? ?No,? came Will?s quick reply. ?I don?t have to prove myself. At the same time, I don?t get embarrassed by anything, only because if you?re going to get into comedy, you shouldn?t be afraid of doing something outlandish! It?s fun to always push the envelope.?
Warm and gentle
Will may make it hard for Anna and Danny to keep a straight face during filming, but both actors found it easy to praise the man behind the comedian. ?I found him warm and gentle,? Anna noted. ?He?s a little shyer than I thought he would be. He bought me the most beautiful bicycle on my last day of filming, because he was going through a very fit stage. He?d bike from our trailers to the set every day. I was like, ?Oh damn, I want a bike!? Danny and I were the lazy arses being taken to the set on the buggy. Will gave me the bike, with a basket containing a lovely bottle of wine and flowers.?
Danny, for his part, commented, ?Will is a great dude. He?s really as cool as you hope he?d be. It?s always disappointing if there?s someone you really like and you meet him, and he doesn?t live up to your expectations. With Will, that wasn?t the case at all.?
And, fortunately for his wife Viveca and two sons, Will claimed that he?s not ?on? all the time in their household. ?I?m very funny at home, but you don?t want someone who?s trying to be funny all the time,? he shared. ?That would drive you crazy. Obviously, I have a different persona offscreen, but I still like to mess around and be crazy at home, though it?s a lot less.?
?I learned at an early age that I could make my friends laugh, which made me feel special,? Will recalled as he talked about his early penchant for comedy. ?But, I was also a very good student. I was serious about school, so I was a conscientious class clown. I would make the class laugh, but if the teacher said, ?Enough,? I was like, ?You got it. No problem.? There has never been a neediness in me to make people laugh. I just enjoy it. I was never fueled by, like, ?Look at me?I need the attention!??
Growing up with a musician father, Lee Ferrell, prepared Will for the vagaries of show business and its impact on families. ?I value my time with my family,? he confessed. ?It?s important to me. I grew up in the entertainment business, watching my father who played for a while with The Righteous Brothers. We got to visit him in Las Vegas. I saw enough of what it was like, and how there really wasn?t a lot of security in it?that things could change anytime. That really informed me.?
Fortunate
Will volunteered, ?When things started happening, that awareness kept me grounded because you never know. It?s not a real job, in a way. You feel incredibly fortunate that it?s actually happening. You work hard, and you?re serious about it, but at the same time, you don?t have to wake up every day and teach at a school or go to work in a coal mine. I have an appropriate sense of where I should be. It has always made me laugh when I meet other people in this business who think so highly of themselves. That could go away in a second, so you always have to keep that in mind.?
On the status of ?Funny or Die,? a website featuring short comedy films that he launched in 2007, Will reported, ?It has actually grown as the No. 1 comedy website. We get close to five million hits a month?that?s pretty crazy, considering that it started from one little video. I don?t think the website is making money (laughter). But, those venture-capital groups always have this weird schedule and scale as to where they think the website should be at a certain time and, apparently, it?s still on track.?
E-mail rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com, and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.
