Ferrell Shoots for Laughs in 'Semi-Pro'

When actor/comedian Will Ferrell walks into the room, an over-the-top scene seems sure to ensue. From “Anchorman” to “Talladega Nights,” Ferrell is known for absurd outbursts. The promotion for his latest movie, “Semi-Pro,” has been particularly outrageous, featuring posters of his character, Jackie Moon, lying naked with a strategically placed basketball. There is also a music video, “Love Me Sexy,” that features Moon on a motorcycle jumping over a line of cheerleaders, and a “Sports Illustrated” spread with Ferrell as Moon posing with Heidi Klum.

“I think Jackie Moon is the first male ever to be in a swimsuit edition,” said Ferrell in a round-table discussion with the Crimson. Will Arnett, Ferrell’s costar in the film, was also present.

Contrary to his frequently wacky film personas, Ferrell is refreshingly candid and approachable in person. When asked if it was his own hair in the movie, Ferrell said, “That was. That was six months focusing on hair growth. And I did it. A lot of people said it couldn’t be done.”

After a barrage of sports films tackling the worlds of NASCAR racing, figure skating, and now basketball, Ferrell says this is the end of his athletic movie run.

However, “Semi-Pro” does manage to give the familiar underdog plot a slight twist. As Moon, Ferrell plays the owner and team captain of the Tropics, a sub-par American Basketball Association (ABA) team from Flint, MI. When the ABA merges with the NBA, Moon tries to take his team to the big league by shooting for a fourth-place finish. The tension comes down to the season’s final game.

“It’s not to win it all, this game is literally for fourth place,” Arnett said. “And they find out that it won’t matter anyway, and they still play the game. So there’s a little bit of a twist there.”

Arnett made a name for himself as G.O.B. on “Arrested Development,” and previously acted alongside Ferrell in “Blades of Glory.” In “Semi-Pro,” he plays sports commentator Lou Redwood.

During the interview, Ferrell and Arnett bantered back and forth about Ferrell’s tendency to deviate from the movie’s script.

“We tried to hedge our bets by shooting as many options, by improvising a lot, so that when you’re in the editing room, you aren’t nailed down to the actual script,” Ferrell said.

This sort of comedic creativity gives the film a spur-of-the-moment feel.

“You try to take advantage of the cast, and that’s why you cast people like Will Arnett,” Ferrell said, rolling his eyes at his costar. “That’s why we try to have this great ensemble of people who are comfortable with improvising and hopefully that leads to a great product in the end.”

Apart from full-length films, Ferrell finds even more freedom in the spontaneity of short skits, such as those on his website “Funny Or Die.”

“The stuff for ‘Funny or Die’ is just so disposable,” said Ferrell. “We just kind of film it and if it works, it works. If it doesn’t it’s pulled off the site, and there’s a no-harm, no-foul kind of feel to it.”

Although Ferrell and Arnett have been successful in comedies, they both mentioned their roles in other genres.

Coming from a theater background, Arnett has a serious side and has appeared in shows such as “The Sopranos” and “Law and Order.”

“You probably didn’t notice because I bury myself in my characters,” Arnett joked. “People obviously think I’m Oscar-hunting all the time because of some of the roles I choose.”

Ferrell expressed his affinity for more serious roles, like those he played in the films “Stranger Than Fiction” and “Melinda and Melinda.”

“That stuff is fun to do,” he said. “And I’d love to do more of it. But there’s no imminent plans for future projects like that.”

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Schuetz can be reached at schuetzw@fas.harvard.edu.