Adam McKay

Jake Szymanski of “Funny or Die” Eyed to Direct HE’S FUCKIN’ PERFECT

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: December 15th, 2011 at 4:01 pm

A Black List spec script written by Lauryn Kahn may have found its director in Jake Szymanksi (Saturday Night Live). Kahn, who had previously worked as an assistant to Adam McKay at “Funny or Die,” had her comedy effort picked up by Fox 2000 earlier this year. Szymanski, a director of numerous shorts at “Funny or Die,” has been eyed by the studio to helm the project, He’s Fuckin’ Perfect. The plot follows a girl who is savvy in the ways of social media but hesitant when it comes to romance. Using her tech skills to vet her friends’ dates, she happens to stumble upon the perfect guy and decides to turn herself into his ideal woman. Emma Stone was previously reported to be circling the role.

He’s Fuckin’ Perfect will be produced through Gary Sanchez, the production company of Will Ferrell and McKay, who also helped Kahn hone and shape her script. Hit the jump for more on the project and an example of Szymanski’s work.

Emma Stone in Talks to Star in Comedy HE’S FUCKIN’ PERFECT

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: November 3rd, 2011 at 12:10 pm

Actress and all-around awesome person Emma Stone is currently in negotiations to star in the comedy He’s Fuckin’ Perfect. The spec script comes from Lauryn Kahn, a writer who’s spent the last four years working as writer-director Adam McKay’s assistant. Deadline reports that He’s Fuckin’ Perfect “focuses on a social media savvy girl who is pessimistic about love and vets her friends’ dates to find flaws. When that process leads her to uncover the perfect guy, she decides to use her internet research skills to turn herself into his perfect match.” McKay will be producing the pic alongside Will Ferrell through their Gary Sanchez banner. Stone was spot-on in Easy A, and this sounds like another strong female-led pic well suited for the young actress (though the title will most certainly be tweaked).

Stone has been quite the busy girl as of late. She did double duty this summer with the hit dramatic adaptation The Help and the dramedy ensemble Crazy, Stupid, Love., she recently wrapped The Amazing Spider-Man, she’s currently reuniting with Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer on the star-studded period pic Gangster Squad, and she’s set to host Saturday Night Live on November 12th.

Adam McKay to Produce Documentary about School Dropout Rates

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 11th, 2011 at 8:40 am

Writer-director Adam McKay has made his name on comedies like Anchorman and The Other Guys, but he’s recently been branching out into new genres.  He’s been trying to adapt Garth Ennis’ comic book series The Boys into a Hard-R anti-superhero flick, and now he’s producing a documentary about the school dropout epidemic in the United States.  Deadline reports that Jason Pollock’s feature documentary will be shot throughout the current school year and released in fall 2012.  The dropout rate has climbed about 50% in major cities and McKay says he wants “to put the education system front and center in this upcoming presidential election.”  Pollock is planning to organize a screening tour of colleges in the lead-up to Election Day, although I don’t understand why you would show a movie about the dangers of dropping out of school to people who didn’t drop out of school.

However, McKay hasn’t completely abandoned comedy.  Filming just wrapped on the third (and possibly final) season of HBO’s Eastbound and Down, and he’s currently set to re-team with Will Ferrell for Swear to God and possibly Three Mississippi.

EASTBOUND AND DOWN Season One and Season Two Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: August 19th, 2011 at 8:00 am

One of the great things about Danny McBride is how he creates different iterations of his comic persona. McBride usually plays one form of white trash or another but The Foot Fist Way’s Fred Simmons is different than Kenny Powers, and way different than the characters in Your Highness and The Pineapple Express. All are delusional egotistical assholes, but each offer different dilemmas and delights. Kenny Powers – the main character of Eastbound and Down – was a superstar and he’s still got the swagger long after he lost his arm and his money, and even when he’s hiding out in Mexico. It’s a different sort of delusion than his other characters: Kenny’s someone desperately clinging to the time when they were still hot shit, while the majority of his other characters never hit those heights, and it makes all of the difference in the world. Our review of the season one and season two Blu-rays of Eastbound and Down follow after the jump.

Adam McKay in Talks to Direct Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in THREE MISSISSIPPI

by Jason Barr    Posted: June 30th, 2011 at 3:48 pm

Director Adam McKay is in talks to reunite with The Other Guys co-stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg for the football comedy Three Mississippi. Already on the project as a producer, Vulture reports that McKay is now in negotiations to helm the pic for Warner Bros. Written by Robert Carlock (30 Rock) and Scott Silveri (Friends), Three Mississippi tells the story of two Philadelphia neighbors whose annual Thanksgiving game of tackle football has become extraordinarily heated. In addition to Ferrell and Wahlberg, Three Mississippi also stars Alec Baldwin as Wahlberg’s father and is courting Jeremy Renner for a potential role as well.

Three Mississippi becomes the next in a long line of McKay/Ferrell projects. Yesterday, we reported that Warner Bros. had picked up the duo’s buddy comedy Swear to God from Due Date screenwriters Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland. Of the two, however, it is believed that Three Mississippi will become McKay’s next directorial effort with Warner Bros. hoping to have the pic to moviegoers by Thanksgiving of 2012.

Will Ferrell and Adam McKay SWEAR TO GOD

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: June 29th, 2011 at 10:32 am

Warner Bros. has picked up the buddy comedy Swear to God with Will Ferrell attached to star and Adam McKay set to produce and direct.  The script is from Due Date screenwriters Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland and Deadline reports that Ferrell will play “a narcissistic hedge fund manager who thinks he has seen God.”  If the project goes into production, it will be the fifth or sixth film directed by McKay that stars Ferrell.  However, it will be the first one McKay didn’t write (although I’d be surprised if he didn’t have input into the script).  Hit the jump to learn more about the Ferrell and McKay’s other projects.

Exclusive: Rob Riggle Talks 21 JUMP STREET, THE LORAX, EVERYBODY LOVES WHALES, LARRY CROWNE, and Adam McKay’s Football Movie

by Christina Radish    Posted: June 29th, 2011 at 8:48 am

Comedian Rob Riggle is one of the busiest funnymen working in Hollywood these days. Currently filming 21 Jump Street in New Orleans, he’s also done a voice for the Dr. Seuss story The Lorax (due out in 2012), and he has roles in Everybody Loves Whales, based on a true story about whales trapped under the ice in the Arctic Circle, and Larry Crowne, starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. On top of that, he’s the host of the AXE Dirtcathlon, on behalf of AXE shower gel, and he will be doing a football comedy with Adam McKay sometime next year.

During an exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor Rob Riggle talked about his journey from Theater and Film major to officer in the Marine Corps to popular comedian, playing the villain in 21 Jump Street and getting to improvise on set with Jonah Hill, how honored he is to be a voice in The Lorax even though his character is morally questionable, how awesome it was to work with Tom Hanks, who was both his co-star and director for Larry Crowne, and how his humor developed out of the need to diffuse situations when he was growing up. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Alec Baldwin Joins Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, and Maybe Jeremy Renner in Football Comedy THREE MISSISSIPPI; Adam McKay Provides Synopsis

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: May 19th, 2011 at 9:12 pm

It was reported earlier this week that The Other Guys co-stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg will reunite for Turkey Bowl, a comedy about that revolves around the annual Thanksgiving neighborhood football game.  Somehow left out of that report was Alec Baldwin, the man who co-inspired the project.  Producer Adam McKay explains:

“The idea was originally conceived for Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin. Owen Burke, who’s a producer at Gary Sanchez, and I were talking about how crazily funny Wahlberg and Baldwin were in The Departed — how, even though it’s not a comedy, we could just watch them all day long. Burke dropped this idea, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s a movie!’ Then Will heard it and he wanted in.”

McKay revealed more about the project, including a more detailed plot synopsis, why they have to rename the movie (the tentative title is Three Mississippi), and how Jeremy Renner might be involved.  Read what he had to say after the jump.

Will Ferrell Reprises His George W. Bush Impersonation to Make Important Announcement on Funny or Die

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: May 4th, 2011 at 6:50 am

Late Sunday night, President Obama made a historic announcement that U.S. special forces had killed Osama Bin Laden.  But former President George W. Bush (as played by Will Ferrell) has his own special announcement to make regarding the assassination of a hated menace.  Hit the jump for a Funny or Die special report.

Kirsten Dunst, Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan and Casey Wilson to Star in Will Ferrell-Produced Comedy

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: May 2nd, 2011 at 5:57 pm

A quartet of actors are set to star in a new indie comedy being produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Kirsten Dunst, Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan and Casey Wilson are all attached to star in a comedy written and directed by Leslye Headland (TV’s Terriers) that has the working title of Bachelorette (which is most likely going to change). The story centers on three best friends who are asked to be the bridesmaids of a woman they called “Pigface” in high school. THR reports that Dunst and Caplan will play two of the best friends, with Wilson taking on the role of the bride-to-be. The character breakdown describes Dunst’s character as “your best friend and your worst enemy,” whereas Caplan’s role is characterized as “having a Playboy bunny body with a Larry David brain.”

This marks a reunion of sorts for Caplan and Scott, who both starred in Starz’s fantastic comedy Party Down. Scott is set to play Caplan’s high school crush, who “shows up to the wedding with a beautiful and much younger date.” The project was previously an off-Broadway play that caught the attention of McKay, who decided to set it up as a film at his and Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez production company. The budget is set at around $3 million with filming hoping to get underway this summer in New York. Scott is currently killing each week on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, and Casey Wilson is starring on ABC’s Happy Endings.

Exclusive: Will Ferrell Talks STEP BROTHERS 2 and Political Comedy SOUTHERN RIVALS with Zach Galifianakis

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: May 1st, 2011 at 12:32 pm

Yesterday, Steve got the chance to talk to Will Ferrell in anticipation of his new film Everything Must Go.  While we’ll have the entirety of his interview up the week of release, Ferrell gave a few tidbits on upcoming projects that we thought we’d share with you right away.  I know most of you are lamenting the loss of Anchorman 2 (really, Paramount? Really?), but Ferrell shared some great news regarding a follow-up to another Ferrell-Adam McKay project: Step Brothers.

Step Brothers, I’ve found, is one of those movies that grows on you exponentially each time you watch it. If you weren’t thrilled with a first-watch, give it another chance and you’re almost guaranteed to find it chock-full of comedic gold nuggets. Ferrell told Steve that he, director Adam McKay and co-star John C. Reilly recently had a meeting about possibly doing Step Brothers 2.  Hit the jump for more, including an update on the political comedy Southern Rivals co-starring Zach Galifianakis.

Adam McKay Says He’s Met with Russell Crowe for THE BOYS; Admits Difficulty of Making Hard-R $100m Anti-Superhero Movie

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: March 29th, 2011 at 10:38 am

Director Adam McKay plans to make a radical departure from his comedies with Will Ferrell to direct an adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic series The Boys.  The comic centers on a group of special agents who are tasked with policing the world’s superheroes and villains by any means necessary. McKay says that while he’s still finishing up the script, he’s already started meeting with actors including Russell Crowe for the role of the team’s leader, Billy Butcher:

“I’ve sat with some people. I really like the idea of Russell Crowe for [Billy] Butcher,” said McKay. “We met and had kind of an interesting meeting.”

Hit the jump for more on what McKay had to say about The Boys including the potential difficulty in getting it made.

HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS, Starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton, Set for March 2, 2012

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 17th, 2011 at 1:27 pm

Paramount has set Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters for March 2, 2012.  The film spins the Grimm fairy tale to where Hansel and Gretel are now adults (played by Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton, respectively) and bounty-hunters who specialize in the witch-killin’ business.  Famke Janssen will play the leader of the witches.  Will Ferrell, Chris Henchy, Adam McKay, and Kevin J. Messick will produce with Dead Snow director Tommy Wirkola at the helm.

Currently, the only competition Hansel & Gretel will have that weekend is the animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.  Both films are currently set to be released in 3D. [Deadline]

Comedy Central and MTV Networks Announce the First Annual COMEDY AWARDS

by Ethan Anderton    Posted: January 10th, 2011 at 1:24 pm

It’s awards season, and while praiseworthy films like The Social Network and The King’s Speech are all critics and press can talk about, comedy is generally consistently overlooked at the Oscars. And while the Golden Globe offers an award for Best Musical or Comedy, it’s nearly impossible to compare the two evenly, and The Hollywood Foreign Press nominates laughless films like The Tourist in that category anyway. Well Comedy Central and MTV Networks have had enough of that nonsense. While laughter might be the best reward for any comedian, the two networks have decided to create The Comedy Awards, a broadcast awards event to honor the best comedy films, actors, TV series, digital content and stand-up acts. It’s about damn time.

More details on the new annual awards show can be found after the jump.

Adam McKay Says STEP BROTHERS Rap Album Is Happening

by Jason Barr    Posted: January 4th, 2011 at 4:29 pm

If you’re anything like me then you might agree that the musical numbers within 2008′s Step Brothers provide the film with some of its most memorable moments (I dare say the film is responsible for whatever popularity increases Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About” might have experienced at karaoke bars).  If you’re even more like me, then you might also agree that the following tweets from director/co-writer Adam McKay are great news:

Are we currently working on a Step Bros rap album? Yup.

To be followed by:

I wasn’t kidding about Step Bros rap album. And we just found out we have a crazy big time producer. Mos Def, you up for a guest flow?

For a little more, hit the jump.

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