In The Other Guys, Will Ferrell re-teams with director Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) for an action-packed comedy about a pair 
of mismatched New York City detectives who seize an opportunity to grab the spotlight — just like the city’s top cops whom they idolize — when a seemingly dull case turns out to be a massive financial conspiracy. Mark Wahlberg and Eva Mendes also star in the hit film.
Mark Wahlberg, the Oscar-nominated actor known for his tough-guy action roles, in a comedy opposite Will Ferrell? This is actually the fulfillment of a desire on both their parts.
“I’ve been looking to do a comedy for a long time,” says Wahlberg. “I just wanted to make sure I was in the right hands. There were comedic elements to certain performances that I’ve done, but to do a full-blown comedy I wanted to make sure I was protected and who better to work with than the funniest guys in movies in my opinion, Will and Adam. They invited me to dinner and said they wanted to do a movie. I was like, ‘You got to be kidding me.’ I said, ‘I’ll do whatever you want.’”
Ferrell added, “We – Adam McKay and I – are such big fans of Mark’s. We always thought he would be great in a comedy, playing a character that maybe is similar in some ways to the role he had in The Departed, but to utilize that intensity he has and play it for laughs.”
“Literally, around one in the morning that night after that first dinner, Adam sent out an e-mail describing a cop movie where Will is the guy who wants to do desk work and the opportunity arises for him to step up,” says co-writer Chris Henchy. “From that, we started talking about it and danced around the idea and went in and pitched it.”
“Adam and Chris went to work writing the script, and then, eight or ten weeks later, they got it to me,” says Wahlberg. “I couldn’t believe it. It was perfect – they wrote an amazing role for me where I just got to go crazy.”
Ferrell says that working with an actor like Wahlberg afforded the filmmakers the opportunity to work the comedy in a way that emphasizes his strengths.
“Sometimes the comedy is conversational, and other times, it’s broad and crazy and out of control. Adam and I always feel like the best comedy is played straight — as real as possible. In fact, this might be the most real movie we’ve done tonally, which makes the situations that [our characters] get into so much funnier.”
“The Other Guys” is now showing on Video On Demand. Check your cable system for availability.
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