If Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly had to channel their inner children to play immature, squabbling siblings in the rambunctious comedy, Step Brothers, they probably didn’t have to dig too deep into their collective consciousness.

“It’s not far from my current status,” said Ferrell, who co-wrote the story with Reilly and director-screenwriter Adam McKay. “One of those things about being an actor is that we don’t have to fully grow up in a way. Or at least I don’t.”

Of course, who wouldn’t relish the chance to act like an overgrown kid? To play with samurai swords and night-vision goggles, practice karate in the garage, pretend to be a pirate and read nudie magazines in your own private tree house?


These are just some of the hijinks Ferrell and Reilly engage in as lovable losers Brennan Huff and Dale Doback – two unemployed, middle-aged men who are forced to share a bedroom when the parents they live with re-marry. But mostly they just whale on each other with whatever’s handy – a shovel, a drum set, a bicycle. Anything. And they’re even more dangerous when they simultaneously sleepwalk.

Actually, many of the film’s funniest moments of sibling rivalry are inspired from the actors’ own childhood memories.

“My house was… like Lord of the Flies,” said Reilly, who grew up in a crowded house with three brothers and two sisters. “So it was all of us just trying to survive and have some shred of privacy in our lives.”

Growing up Ferrell shared bunk beds with his brother. “But they never collapsed,” he noted, referring to the hilarious scene when his character gets smothered between shoddily-constructed bunk beds. “My brother and I were always trying to mess with each other,” recalled Ferrell. “It was definitely the usual sibling things: possession and keep your stuff on your side of the room.”


At least their childhoods weren’t nearly as violent as their on-screen counterparts’.

“I wanted a samurai sword, but my mom was so stringent on having no guns or weapons of any kind. And she was smart to do that,” said Reilly, recounting the times he and his brothers would search all around the house for their toy guns and knives, which their mother would constantly hide. “If we had the chance to find real guns we would have been shooting off real guns.”

Ferrell’s mom wasn’t as strict. “She let me have a little dart gun. She said I could have it, but don’t ever shoot anyone close to their face,” he said. “But this one kid was really giving it to me and I was like, I can’t hold back.” So, naturally, he aimed at the kid’s face and fired, and his mother confiscated the weapon. “But I remember thinking, ‘That was well worth it. I sent a message.’”


This is the second collaboration between Ferrell, Reilly and McKay, following the red-neck, blue-collar comedy Talladega Nights. Ferrell and McKay also partnered on Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

With a sequel to Anchorman forthcoming, could Step Brothers 2 be far behind? Maybe not. Reilly already has an idea for Brennen and Dale’s further adventures: “They adopt children together,” he kidded. “Scary thought, right?”

*Photos Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

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