The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Will Ferrell wanted ‘The House’ to be R-rated
Actor co-stars with Poehler about couple that starts home casino
Having grown up in Irvine — “a very safe and literally a master-planned community” — Will Ferrell is familiar with suburbia, although he can’t say he has ever known anyone quite like the couple he and Amy Poehler play in the comedy “The House,” in theaters now
As Scott and Kate Johansen, they open an illegal casino inside their neighbor’s home to make the college money they were counting on when a scholarship their daughter had earned is pulled at the last minute before tuition is due.
Well-meaning parents, the Johansens’ identity is wrapped up in their only child, Alex (Ryan Simpkins), who unlike them is a straight-A student. She has been accepted to a prestigious university, and they will stop at nothing to make her dreams come true.
Realizing they have been cavalier about taking care of their own money, the pair has little option but to accept an offer from their neighbor Frank (Jason Mantzoukas), a gambling addict looking for a big payday. Although the Johansens live mild-mannered lives as parents, you suspect they’ve tamped down their own wildness and are ready to unleash it.
Ferrell remembers when Andrew Jay Cohen, who is making his feature film directorial debut, and cowriter Brendan O’Brien came in to pitch “The House.” He says there was a back and forth over whether it should be a PG13 or R, knowing that the studios would prefer they make the former.
“We felt that once you get into the world where this safe suburban couple gets wrapped up in this casino and goes to the dark side, the only way to do that was to take it as far as we can,” says the 49-year-old comedian. “That’s where you would get the maximum comedy. It would have felt disingenuous to do the PG13”
Indeed, once the Johansens and Frank set up the illegal gambling joint and get a few customers, Frank starts expanding the place, and it takes on the style of a glitzy Vegas casino. Soon, the customers start letting their inhibitions down.
“We talked about how if a couple really did set up a casino, people would show up and things would quickly get out of hand,” says Ferrell.
Ferrell says one of his favorite scenes in the film is when a fight breaks out between a couple of feuding suburbanites, Martha (Lennon Parham) and Laura (Andrea Savage), and the crowd starts betting on it.
“Andrea and Lennon were really great, because they did a lot of the choreography, and they were really good at it, “Ferrell says. “They were like two stunt people in a way.”
Scott and Kate transform, too. As people start running up gambling debts, they get tough on them. When a small-time thug cheats, they take the guy into the garage, truss him up and threaten to chop off his finger in a “Casino”style scene in which Scott wields an ax.
This is where “The House” goes off in a different direction than you might think.
You might think you’ve seen Ferrell and Poehler star in a comedy before. Close, but, as Ferrell explains, in “Blades of Glory” they had different storylines that didn’t overlap. The two did appear together for about a season on “Saturday Night Live,” but this is the first time the pair has been in a full feature together.
“Sometimes in films like this you don’t get rehearsal time, and we didn’t,” says Ferrell, who began his career in the Groundlings in Los Angeles. “So from the first day of filming, we had to be a couple right out of the gate, and it felt natural from the first take. So it’s great to come from the same comedy world and have that shorthand.”
“The House,” on which Ferrell is a producer, is populated with a number of familiar comedians and actor who drop in for a scene or two.
“One of the benefits of shooting in Los Angeles is that we got to draw from the pool of all these comedy people,” he says.
As to whether he himself is a gambler, Ferrell deadpans: “I have a terrible problem with it. I have a bunch of liens.”
The actor quickly amends that, saying he’s occasionally gone to Las Vegas to catch a fight with his producing partner, Adam McKay, who directed Ferrell starrers such as “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” and “Step Brothers.”
But as far as the gaming tables are concerned, “I don’t have that itch that needs to be scratched.”
Ferrell has been busy lately both producing and acting. “Daddy’s Home 2” is being released in November, marking the third times he’s starred with Mark Wahlberg. Next summer, he has “Holmes and Watson,” written and directed by Etan Cohen. In it, he reteams with his “Step Brothers” and “Talladega” co-star John C. Reilly.
“Why not work with your friends if you have the opportunity to,” reasons Ferrell, who says he is also looking to mix in some serious roles. “I’m circling around a few things.”
One of his other favorite moments in “The House” comes at the end and “isn’t necessarily a funny scene.” It’s when the Johansens finally take their daughter to college and say goodbye.
“It’s then they realize that — instead of being a couple of empty-nesters — this whole adventure they had gone on really reminds them that they are each other’s best friends and won’t be alone and everything will be OK,” Farrell says. “I love that this emotional scene comes at the end of this crazy R-rated comedy.”
Ferrell and his wife are the parents of three sons: Magnus, Mattias and Axel.
Since the oldest is 13, Ferrell has a few more years before he has to face a similar situation.
“I do think about the fact that before you know it, we’ll be in that position,” he admits, referring to his oldest. “It will be really strange to drop them off at whatever college he goes to and tough to say goodbye. I can’t imagine that moment.”
So the USC alum and rabid Trojan football fan isn’t pushing his alma mater?
“That would be nice,” he says, “but I’m keeping an open mind.”
“From the first day of filming, we had to be a couple right out of the gate, and it felt natural from the first take. So it’s great to come from the same comedy world and have that shorthand.”