“Step Brothers” Will Ferrell (WF) and John C. Reilly (JCR) claim that some of the incidents depicted in their latest movie really happened. Yeah, right.
And so did their recent press confab exchange, along with co-writer/director Adam McKay (AM), who also brought the boys together a few years ago in “Talladega Nights.” The whole thing was instigated by a question about a scene in which Ferrell’s vengeful Brennan Huff attacks the drum set owned by step bro Dale Doback (Reilly) with his – um, er, well – let’s just let the questioning begin and take it from there.
Will, as a producer on this film, did you use your own nut sack on those drums or did you hire a double?
JCR (jumping in): I think the whole purpose of that question was just so you can say nut sack.
WF: It feels good to say that doesn't it? But no, we spared no expense. We flew in some genital actors. There were screen tests for the nut sack. There was a lot of this.
AM: We asked who the best nut man in the business was. We brought in a guy named Matty Turaw. He works out of Germany at a cost of $3.4 million for the nut sack, the nut sack team, body doubles, special lighting that catches hairs on testicles. That part of the movie actually took eight days to shoot.
WF: He is one of the world’s best, though.
JCR: That’s who designed the ball sack, but the guy who actually constructed it was this Giuseppe Jordo who did the balls for 'Over the Greek' and a lot of big classic movies, like for Rock Hudson in 'Giant.' He did his balls for that. He's an old Hollywood craftsman.
AM: A nut sack wrangler was also part of the team, a very aggressive gentleman who wouldn’t let anyone within 10 yards of it.
JCR: I actually got up close to the nut sack that was used, and it was a beautiful strawberry blonde.
WF: That's my CB handle, Nut Sack Wrangler. People would just call me that.
JCR: Remember how nervous they got around the dogs? We had to have the dogs on the set the same day as the nut sack and it was like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa! Get that dog away from my nuts.'
We actually had two nut sacks, each at a cost of $400,000, and one of the dogs ate one. They eventually passed. They were made out of silicone.”
“Step Brothers,” naturally rated “R” and co-starring veteran character actors Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins, is almost as hilarious as the guys credited with the story.
John M. Urbancich
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