Comic-Con 2010: ‘The Other Guys’ Interview

Published by David Pinson on July 28, 2010

We’re finishing up our coverage of Comic-Con 2010 with the press conference for The Others Guys, a buddy cop comedy starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Dwayne Johnson, and Samuel L. Jackson.  Adam McKay (Anchorman, Step Brothers) co-wrote and directed.

But first, Columbia Pictures is running a voting contest on Facebook to bring the red carpet premiere to the winning city.  The field has already narrowed from 25 to 10 and then to 5 (poor Austin missed the cut), but click over and vote for your favorite.  The final five are Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, and St. Louis or, if you’re not partial to one, just click Dallas.  The winner will be announced August 2.

Ok, back to Comic-Con, where McKay, Ferrell, Wahlberg, and Mendes took questions at the press conference:

How much of the movie was improvised?  What percentage would you say…?

McKay: We have to, for our bond company, we actually have to give them the exact percentages.  We brought in an actuary and broke it down.  This movie was 14.3789% improvised, and the rest was scripted.

Ferrell: That would be 86… 85%  Roughly.  Yeah, if you round up.

McKay: You know, that’s actually somewhat of a serious answer.  Probably abut 15-20% was improvised because we goof around within the scenes, but the overall story structure roughly stays the same.

With respect to buddy capers, obviously if you were improvising you had Will Ferrell who is a master of improvisation, how much did you (Wahlberg) learn from him on set?

Wahlberg: I think it was the other way around, actually.

Ferrell: It’s true.

Wahlberg: I think he couldn’t handle all the curveballs I was throwing at him.

Ferrell: No, it really is kind of the same approach.  In terms of… whether it’s a drama or comedy.  We both just had the same philosophy: treat the characters as if it’s real.  Be earnest in every moment and we’re never winking at the camera.  So within that it was, because we had the same philosophy, it was very easy to improvise with each other.

Eva, you’re obviously working with some of the sexiest men in Hollywood.  What are their sexiest qualities?

Mendes:  Which one?  [laughs]

Ferrell: We’re all Grade A USDA Choice marbled beef.

Mendes:  Um, for me…?  I guess… This is very unprofessional, to objectify these men like this.  [laughs]

Ferrell:  It’s not supposed to be a funny question, really.  I’m not sure what’s so amusing about it.

McKay: I like my actors to be a little pumped for the scene so we had weights on the set and all of us were shirtless and lifting weights.

Mendes: We all had tickets to the gun show.

Ferrell: Yeah, pretty much.

McKay: There was a lot of human growth hormone on set.

Mendes: The truth is these guys are really funny to work… I can’t do it.  I can’t do it.  I’m so sorry.  I have to talk to these guys later on, and see them.  I can’t really expose what I find sexy about them.  Besides the fact that they’re…

Ferrell: There is no sex appeal about any of us.  Except for, maybe, Mark.

Wahlberg: Not anymore.

Ferrell: On a good day.

Mendes: I don’t know.  I’m sorry.  I sucked.  That was a horrible…  I don’t know what just happened.

Does being in San Diego get you more into the role for Anchorman 2?

Ferrell: Uhhh, it really has.  It’s…

Wait, Is there going to be a next Anchorman?

Ferrell: No.  [laughter in the room]  But we’re excited about it.

McKay: Even though it’s never going to happen.

Ferrell: Please pester Paramount Pictures to make the right decision.

McKay: Say “please pester Paramount Pictures” again.

Ferrell: Please pester Paramount Pictures.  [popping his P's.]  To answer you question, it is great to be back in The Whale’s Vagina.

Mendes: Yes!  One of my favorite lines of all time.  That and “you’re a real hooker, and I’m going to smack you in public.”  That was my favorite.  ”Ribs.  I had ribs for lunch.”

I’m curious, have any of you had any crazy real life cop encounters?

Ferrell: I grew up in the mean streets of… I don’t know if anyone is familiar with Irvine, California, but it’s a pretty pretty tough neighborhood.  I once got a bicycle ticket… from Irvine PD for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.  And my other encounter with law enforcement was getting pulled over in Los Angeles in my Prius doing 50 in a 35.

Eva, how did you get in shape for this role?

Mendes: Um, I just did the usual, you know.

Ferrell: Roll out of bed.  Show up.

McKay: Lot of Kool Aid and gyros.

Mendes:  What?  No, I went old school.  I took out the old Jane Fonda workout and uh… No, I hate working out, but I have to do it so I go to the gym and do weights and run and do all that stupid stuff.

Do you have a great Comic-Con story from your previous visits?

Ferrell: I was hanging out with Will Shatner who was here for Star Trek because obviously he is associated with it.  And we’re like, “Let’s go.  Let’s take your motor home and let’s go south of the border.  Let’s do it.”  So we ended up, uh… We got a bunch of peyote and we ended up down near Mulaje [?] which is on the tip of Maheart [? I have no idea what he said and they're probably made up locations].

McKay: Oh, sure.  Sure.

Ferrell: And we were there for… We were like “Let’s throw our watches into the sea.  All our worldly possessions.”  We spent about three weeks down there.  Just me and Bill Shatner.  And um, so that was fun.  So that happened.

McKay: I had a crazy story the first time I was here, and this is more for like pretty serious comic book fans, but I went to purchase Marvel Team-Up #56.  You guys all know, Spider-Man and the Scarecrow.

Ferrell: Right.

McKay: And I looked and it was so crazy funny.  Instead they had Marvel 2-in-1, The Thing and the Yancy Street Gang, where that would should have been, and we laughed and laughed.

Ferrell: Everyone was like, “Ahhh!  Oh no!”

McKay: Someone pulled the fire alarm.

Mark, is this the last season of “Entourage” and will we ever see Will on the show?

Wahlberg: We actually have one season after this one.  And, uh, I don’t know.  I keep asking and he keeps saying no.

McKay: Is that true?  It’s always you [Will] playing yourself though, right?

Ferrell: Yeah, but there’s different scenarios.  I commit and I go to wardrobe fitting and I’m like, “I don’t like my clothes.  I’m not going to do it.”

Wahlberg: And I said you could just wear your own clothes.

Ferrell: Then I show up on the first day of filming and I’m like, “I just don’t feel it, guys.”

McKay: Will’s had a lot… Will’s started in on about six or seven features and on the first day said, “I don’t feel it” and just walked off, and they had to shut down.

Ferrell:  Little known fact.

McKay: Trivia.

Mark, are you happy about the movie?

Wahlberg: Do I look happy?  I’m playing Brick Breaker on my phone under the table.  He’s watching me get the high score.

McKay: He is.

Wahlberg: I’m not happy, but these guys are happy.  Will’s really happy.  Look what’s beside him.

Mendes: I mean, I couldn’t even answer that other question about what I find attractive about them.  So I’m certainly not happy.

McKay: These guys are also professionals, you have to remember.  They all, right before they walked up here, had pretty dour looks on their faces and they said, “Time to turn it on.”  Then the fake smiles come on.

Mendes:  Sparkle.  It’s time to sparkle.

What is the most underrated buddy cop movie of all time?

Wahlberg: Cop Out. [laughter from the crowd]

Ferrell:  Underrated.

Wahlberg.  Cop Out.  I just watched it again today on the way here.

McKay: One False Move doesn’t count as a buddy cop movie, does it?  It kind of is, though.  That’s a great movie.

Ferrell: Omega Man.  There are police.  Aren’t there police?

McKay: The Buddy Holly Story.  Does that count as a buddy cop movie?

Ferrell: That’s underrated.

Mendes:  Underrated?  You know what, I’m actually going to take a beat and be serious about my answer.  I’m going to do a little self promoting, as well.

McKay: Oh, Jesus.  We are not here to promote.

Mendes: A film that Wahlberg and I were in called We Own the Night.  I thought it was incredibly underrated.  Mark, I thought you were amazing.

Wahlberg: Thank you, but that wasn’t really a buddy cop movie.

Mendes: [laughs] It was, it was just a drama buddy cop.  They didn’t say a comedy buddy cop.

Wahlberg: Well, we were brothers who didn’t like each other, so…. It’s like anti… Then I got shot in the face.

Mendes: Mark, were there cops in the film?

Wahlberg: There were cops.

Mendes: Were some of them buddies?

Wahlberg: Some of them were buddies.

Mendes: So therefore…

McKay: What’s the one show with the two guys who lived on the houseboat?  Remember that one?

Mendes: Bosom Buddies?

McKay: No, house boat.  Cop show.  Remember?  ”Rip Tide!”  Did they ever make that into a movie?  Because that would be my favorite buddy cop movie.  They haven’t done “Rip Tide” as a movie?   That’s shocking.

Will, what’s going on with the Sherlock Holmes movie with Sacha Baron Cohen?

Ferrell: Um, that one is in deep deep… development.  Which means, yeah, nothing is happening.