Alec Baldwin To Play Wahlberg’s Father
Wondering if Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg got along during the making of the cop-comedy flick, “The Other Guys” as directed by Adam McKay? Here’s your answer: the duo are reuniting on a football comedy project called, “Turkey Bowl.”
It doesn’t sound like Adam McKay (“Step Brothers,” “Anchorman“) will be behind the camera this time as he’s still trying to get his adaptation of “The Boys” off the ground, but his Gary Sanchez shingle with Chris Henchy will act as the producers. Conceived for Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin initially thanks to their sparks in “The Departed,” the “30 Rock” actor will play “The Fighter” star’s father in the picture.
Written by “30 Rock” scribes Robert Carlock, and Scott Silveri, the project was sold as a pitch that’s essentially this: Wahlberg and Ferrell will play two men who come from “football-obsessed towns who lead rival teams in an annual tackle football game for bragging and trash-talking rights.” The tackle games are evidently meant to host star cameos in a similar manner as the rival broadcast fights of “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” (Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and Tim Robbins were the big cameos in that famous scene).
No word when the project will go in front of cameras, but it won’t be next for either star. Ferrell as “Southern Rivals” or “Rivals” his political comedy next that shoots in the fall co-starring Zach Galifianakis, and Wahlberg is insanely busy, having just finished “Contraband,” is finishing up shooting Seth McFarlane‘s “Ted” and then may re-team with “The Fighter” director David O. Russell for the long-gestating Weinstein Brothers project, “The Silver Linings Playbook,” which could land O. Russell back in his wackier, funnier, “I Heart Huckabees” and “Flirting with Disaster” milieu.
Ferrell has has attempted to put a comedic spin on practically every sport known to man including basketball (“Semi-Pro“), soccer (“Kicking & Screaming“), figure skating (“Blades of Glory“) and NASCAR racing (“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby“), so it was only inevitable before pigskin figured into the take (baseball eventually coming up to plate we imagine). But not all of those are very successful — arguably only the Sacha Baron Cohen/John C. Reily film of that bunch is worth revisiting, and tellingly that’s the only one McKay directed — so let’s hope the spin this time actually provides laughs (and/or McKay does all the 2nd, 3rd and 4th unit shooting). [Deadline]
