Video:Writer/Director Adam McKay Interview - The Other Guys
with Rebecca MurrayAdam McKay and Will Ferrell are back at it with 'The Other Guys,' an action comedy set in New York about cops who aren't exactly thought of as the stars of the NYPD. At the 2010 Comic Con, McKay talked about teaming up Ferrell with Mark Wahlberg.See Transcript
Transcript:Writer/Director Adam McKay Interview - The Other Guys
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con.
Adam McKay - Writer/Director of The Other Guys
How did you know Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg would work as a team?Adam McKay: "We didn't entirely know they would, and that was what was a little exciting to us. We figured if there was a little question or it felt a little strange, then there's something interesting there. But you know, Mark's a great actor. He's a really skilled actor with great instincts and very small choices. He's not a needy performer, so I knew he'd at least be good. I was shocked at how kind of inspired they were together. It was like just immediately interesting. He had just a great ear for playing off of Will. Some of the scenes we did we just kept improvising and improvising and improvising, because it was so much fun to work with him."
Can Mark keep up with Will?
Adam McKay: "Oh yeah, no problem at all. I mean the rule of improv is just play it like you would really play it. You know, act like a normal human being and respond the way you would. Mark not only did that but then he was making inspired choices back to Will. Yeah, he had a bunch of improv laughs in this movie."
So when are you going to team them up again?
Adam McKay: "I don't know. We had so much fun doing this, we did kind of say, 'God, I'd go right away and do this one again.' They definitely have to do something again though."
I haven't seen it yet, but the trailer looks like these guys should be together as a buddy team.
Adam McKay: "They play... You can fake stuff in a trailer, but when you actually watch the whole movie you'll be kind of amazed how much they click together. It's kind of incredible."
How are you at action scenes, because action is not really your forte? You're a comedy guy.
Adam McKay: "You have to tell me. I, of course, think that I'm great. But I have no..."
I'm sure you are.
Adam McKay: "No, no, I don't think I'm great. But I mean I think we did some pretty cool stuff. You know my DP is Oliver Wood who shot The Bourne Supremacy movies, Bourne Identity and stuff so we had a topnotch DP. We had Pat Crowley who produced those movies. I'm a giant film geek; I've seen every movie ever made so I love action movies. So we knew enough to at least make sure that...I think that at worst they're really good. They're decent. I don't know if we ever got to inspired, but they're pretty darn good."
Is it ever a thing where you have so much comedy, so much action that you forget about character development? Or do we really get to know these guys?
Adam McKay: "Well that's usually our starting place is character development. We love sort of rolling around with these characters and finding out who they are, so we know we have that. The trick was is there enough plot and is there enough action, and what's the right balance? That was more what we had to work on. But no, these guys are actually - it's a comedy but they're pretty layered guys. They're fairly complicated in the movie. You'll see. It's not just a nerd and a tough guy. There's more going on than that. It turned out pretty good in that sense."
And you surrounded them with some really cool actors too.
Adam McKay: "Amazing people. Oh my god, Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes, Sam Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Rob Riggle, Damon Wayans Jr, Anne Heche...it's an insane cast. It's one of the best ones we've ever had."
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