Mark Wahlberg, Will Ferrell Talk Daddy’s HomePosted by Wilson Morales
December 23, 2015
Coming out on Christmas Day is the hilarious comedy, Daddy’s Home, starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, Thomas Haden Church, and Hannibal Buress.
Directed by Sean Anders, “Daddy’s Home” follows a mild-mannered radio executive (Ferrell) who strives to become the best stepdad to his wife’s two children, but complications ensue when their freewheeling and freeloading real father (Wahlberg) arrives, forcing him to compete for the affection of the kids.
For Ferrell and Wahlberg, it’s their second time working together after collaborating with Adam McKay on 2010’s action comedy The Other Guys.
At a recent press conference in New York City, the two actor spoke about their characters and working together again.
Did you two guys have to flip a coin to figure out who was gonna play which role?
Will: We arm-wrestled and I beat Mark, like, nine outta ten times. And even though Mark looks so physically fit, he’s super weak. I think you have Epstein-Barr, right? You’re super tired, too. Yeah. So he’d fall asleep while I arm wrestled him and I thought “Oh, that’s perfect for Brad.”
What made you think of making the stepdad look good?
Will Ferrell: I think it’s the first time you get to tell the story of the stepdad. And he’s not evil. This is a step-parent who’s really trying to do the best job he can and he comes up against the feelings of insecurity when the real dad shows up in the picture and reverses all the good work he’s done.
How was this different from making The Other Guys?
WF: Well, I think it was a nice change of pace ’cause it was fun to approach this while hopefully being just as funny. It was nice to get back into a family movie; something that explored this idea of the blended family, which is becoming more and more common. And it was the fact that we could be funny but also have kind of a nice message with it, too. So this was a nice segue for us to kinda have a second film together.
MW: Yeah, we just kinda picked up right where we left off, you know? Having not done comedy before working with Will, he always made me feel very comfortable and he creates a very safe environment so you can risk looking ridiculous and know that you’ll still be protected. And he was always encouraging me to try things and open up. I think he regrets that now. He hasn’t been able to stop me but it’s great.
Mark, how did you make your character Dusty more likable than expected?
MW: When I originally read it, I was like, “Okay, I could just play this guy like a prick.” You know, take the obvious choice. But then Sean (the director) was like, “Well, we want him to be much more interesting than that.” And you want Dusty to also be likeable. And there is a great (character) arc there. We wanted to make him more interesting and more well-rounded. The two dads really learn a lot from each other. And then they’re finally able to become mature enough to put their own differences aside and do the right thing for the children.
Will, when did you think Mark could do comedy?
WF: Adam McKay and I had been fans of Mark’s dramatic work for a very long time. And we noticed in some of the movies, he was also just very funny being so incredibly earnest and committed to his characters. And we just toyed around. You know, Adam came up with the premise of “The Other Guys.” But we toyed around with the idea of, “Gosh, could that be applied to a commercial comedy? Would Mark even be interested in that?” And we’ve had some success in some of the other films we’ve done where we’ve kind of plucked more dramatic actors, and thrown them in kind of comedic circumstances, and it’s worked great. And we just sat down with Mark and pitched him the idea. And luckily for us, he was on board right from the beginning.
The film is full of funny one-liners. How much is in the script and how much is you guys doing improv?
WF: It starts with a read through where we we’re able to get as much of the cast as we could just to hear it out loud. And then you sit down. You rehearse the scenes and between the scripted scene and then ideas we had on the day, we always had a whole kind of slew of alternate lines that we throw out. And so between all of those steps you know, you kinda have a buncha different choices in the edit room to where you can dial a scene up or down.
Mark, did you practice your dance moves for the finale?
MW: As far as the dancing stuff, I was absolutely dreading it. And Sean continued to ask me, “You workin’ on your moves? Like, ‘Yeah, I’m workin’ on my moves.” And I wasn’t. I waited basically until the last second because it’s 7am in the morning. There is a crew of a couple hundred people and then a couple hundred extras. They’re like, “All right. Bust a move.” I’m like, “Oh God.” So my least favorite thing to do next to singing. And, of course, I had to do both in the movie. But people seem to love those moments.
Did you ever go to a dad/daughter dance in real life? If so, what song would you want to dance to?
MW: I’ve been to many daddy-daughter dances. Actually last year was the first time that I went with both my daughters. And you really just hope they’re gonna dance with you at all. So whatever song is okay. My now 12-year-old, she’s running around with her friends. I got quite a few dances last year. Preferably something a little slower.
WF: Anything from the soundtrack of Booty Call.
Why should folks see this film on Christmas Day, especially when it’s a crowded field?
WF: I think when we put the movie together, and started testing it, we saw how it was such an endearing and charming film, it just felt like, we just looked ahead, and Paramount looked at the schedule, and we thought that this would be great counter-programming for what’s out there. There really wasn’t anything else, and it seemed like a good opening for a family comedy around the holidays. And Star Wars is scared shitless.
