Adam McKay made a rare comment about his surprise falling out with Will Ferrell.
McKay, 58, told Business Insider on Thursday, June 25, that he’s “open to the idea” of reconnecting with Ferrell, also 58, after they decided to part ways as creative partners in 2019.
“We always got along great, we were tremendous creative partners,” McKay told the outlet about them previously founding production company Gary Sanchez Productions.
McKay addressed what led to their rift, adding, “The only thing that caused acrimony between us was when we decided to end our production company, Gary Sanchez. And I know it was reported one way or the other, but that was really it.”
After founding Gary Sanchez Productions in 2006, the duo worked on films including Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers. McKay and Ferrell announced their decision to part ways 13 years later.
“The last 13 years could not have been more enjoyable and satisfying for the two of us at Sanchez Productions. We give massive thanks to our incredible staff and executives and all the writers, directors and actors we worked with through the years,” read their 2019 statement. “The two of us will always work together creatively and always be friends. And we recognize we are lucky as hell to end this venture as such.”
McKay told Business Insider that it was a “shame” because he had a “great creative partnership” with Ferrell.
“I think both of us underestimated the complications that go with not just having a company, but a very successful company,” McKay continued. “We had it for a long time and did a lot of cool projects.”
McKay pointed out that Ferrell had “publicly” said he didn’t want to produce films. “So he was always half in and half out, but then he would love it and be proud of the company, but by the end, he wanted to move on,” he said.
He added: “It had become too much extra work; it was never his passion,” he explained. “I was really the one who wanted to produce, but a movie star’s life is very different than a writer-director’s life. So we split up. But life goes on. We had a great run.”
McKay clarified he had “no hard feelings,” noting, “Who knows, we’ll see what happens.”
Ferrell, meanwhile, has only addressed the professional split in 2021 when he called it a result of “bandwidth.”
“Adam was like, ‘I want to do this, and this, and this,’ he wanted growth and a sphere of influence, and I was just like, ‘I don’t know, that sounds like a lot that I have to keep track of,’” he detailed to The Hollywood Reporter. “To me, the potential of seeing a billboard, and being like: ‘Oh, we’re producing that?’ I don’t know. At the end of the day, we just have different amounts of bandwidth.”
