Will Ferrell hasn't appeared in every single comedy of the last three years, but sometimes it seems that way.
Ever since 2003's Old School took in $75 million at the US box office, the actor has popped up in a dozen films, or roughly three a year. There have been starring gigs in Elf, Kicking & Screaming and Bewitched, as well as uncredited cameos in Starsky & Hutch and Wedding Crashers.
So just how busy is Will Ferrell?
"I'm not the father of my kid," he says about his 2-year-old son Magnus. "We had a surrogate. A really nice guy. I just could not fit it into the schedule. My wife was cool with that."
Farrell is a master of the deadpan. He isn't one of those comedians who feels the need to continually work the room but he does manage to sneak a bit of hilarity into his conversations.
Ask the actor why he seems to drop trou in almost every single one of his movies -- including his latest, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby -- and he nods his head with the seriousness of an undertaker.
"I committed a crime that I can't talk about when I was in high school, and it's all part of this work release program that I have to honor with the state of California," he says. "For my next film, I get a towel, which is so much classier."
As if appearing in 12 films in four years wasn't time-consuming enough, Ferrell also helps write some of his movies. He and former Saturday Night Live scribe Adam McKay have co-written -- and McKay has directed -- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights.
Ferrell sees both films as part of his investigation into the psyche of "the mediocre American male." It's an inquiry he hopes to continue with future movies.
"What's really funny to me are people who think they're great, but are far from it," says Ferrell during an interview in Chicago. "There is something really humorous about unearned confidence. It just makes me laugh. So that's something I feel we'll return to again and again."
In Talladega Nights, Ferrell plays -- who else? -- Ricky Bobby, a NASCAR champion supported by a loyal pit crew (Michael Clarke Duncan, Jack McBrayer, Ian Roberts), a racing partner (John C. Reilly), a gorgeous wife (Leslie Bibb) and two kids named Walker (Houstin Tumlin) and Texas Ranger (Grayson Russell).
But Ricky gets thrown a curve when he crashes and suddenly loses his daredevil spirit. With his career in ruins, he moves back home with his mom (Jane Lynch) and learns how to handle the speed bumps of life from his speed-demon dad (Gary Cole).
"Being able to play someone cocky and Southern -- that's my goal in life," says Ferrell. "But however idiotic Ricky Bobby is, there's a part of him that still needs his friends and family to tell him he's on the right track. I like that about him."
If you hear a bit of Dubya in Ricky Bobby's drawl, Ferrell says it's just a happy coincidence. "When I saw the film, I thought that I sounded just like Bush. But it wasn't a conscious thing. I should take credit for it but, honestly, it just happened."
A lot of things just happened on the set. Ferrell says most of the love/hate relationship between Ricky Bobby and his chief rival -- flamboyant French driver Jean Girard (Da Ali G Show creator Sacha Baron Cohen) -- was created on the spot.
"Sacha and I share a kiss, which was a definite highlight for me," Ferrell notes of the improvised scene. "I think that's my first on-screen male-to-male kiss."
Adds Cohen, "Will is such an amazing improviser. He has the ability to take any scene in a totally different direction. He's so earnest and always so in character that it is incredibly easy to improvise with him."
Before filming began, Ferrell, Reilly and Cohen all took no-crash courses with the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Ferrell's fastest time was 135 miles an hour.
"Throughout, the three of us had only one goal: to beat Britney Spears, who had once gone 112 miles an hour," says Ferrell. "Fortunately, we all did."
Growing up in Orange County, CA, Ferrell was always a sports freak. He played soccer obsessively and received a sports information degree from the University of Southern California.
"Journalism seemed a little more legitimate than trying to be a comedian or an actor," he recalls. "Then I realized I'd have to go off and get a job in Yuma, Arizona. Nothing against Yuma. I hear it's lovely this time of year. But I just thought, 'Wow, that's a long road and a hard road. too. I might as well try comedy.'"
A stint with the Los Angeles comedy/improv group The Groundlings eventually led to Saturday Night Live, where Ferrell remained for seven years, perfecting a wide range of impersonations including George Bush, Jesse Ventura, Charlton Heston, Janet Reno and Mark McGwire.
Like fellow comic actors Bill Murray and Jim Carrey, Ferrell is eager to try his hand at dramatic acting. He co-starred opposite Ed Harris in Winter Passing, but the film largely bypassed theaters on its way to DVD.
He gets another chance to stretch in Stranger Than Fiction, the latest project from Marc Forster of Finding Neverland and Monster's Ball fame. Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah co-star in the upcoming seriocomedy about a man (Ferrell) who comes to realize he's a character in a book that Emma Thompson is writing.
"I don't feel pressure to do something different, but it's a fun thing for me to explore films outside of comedy," notes Ferrell. "It's not a burning need or anything. I think, ultimately, comedy is where I'll always live."
For his next film, Blades of Glory, Ferrell goes back to what he does best. Set in the world of figure skating, the movie pairs Farrell with Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) for the tale of two down-on-their-luck skaters who decide to compete as the world's first male ice skating team.
After Blades of Glory, Ferrell is set to make a rare pit stop. "We have another baby on the way," he reports. "My wife is due in late December. Conceivably, Blades of Glory might be the only film I do this year. So, it's been a low-impact year.
"But that having been said, Adam and I are hoping to start writing a new script. There's always stuff worth doing -- and we're doing it."
This story originally appeared on Featurewell.com.
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