The downside of having a groundbreaking debut movie is the pressure of having to follow it up with a sophomore outing that lives up to the hype. After taking the comedy world by storm with the absurdist gem Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Adam McKay and Will Ferrell switched gears from the ‘70s news industry to contemporary NASCAR for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
Since the success of Anchorman and Ferrell’s rising star power made Sony feel comfortable giving McKay a huge budget to work with, there are plenty of interesting details from the making of Talladega Nights.
Adam McKay And Will Ferrell Sold The Movie With A Six-Word Pitch
When Adam McKay and Will Ferrell were looking for ideas for their follow-up to Anchorman, they went to a couple of NASCAR races and found the whole atmosphere to be fascinating. So, they decided to commit the next year and a half of their lives to it.
McKay and Ferrell managed to sell Talladega Nights to Sony and secure a $72.5 million budget with a single-line pitch: “Will Ferrell as a NASCAR driver.”
NASCAR Objected To The Film’s Title
NASCAR officials objected to the title of Talladega Nights and requested that the producers change it to the name of their production company, High, Wide, and Handsome. The filmmakers didn’t want to use that title, so they briefly considered calling the film Loud and Proud.
They were still unhappy with that and couldn’t come up with something better, so they eventually reverted back to Talladega Nights, despite NASCAR’s objections.
Will Ferrell’s Father Wrote And Performed A Song For The Movie
Will Ferrell’s father, Roy Lee Ferrell, is a musician. He wrote and performed the song “Goodbye Cowboy” for Talladega Nights.
John C. Reilly Was On McKay And Ferrell’s Radar After Being Originally Cast As Brick In Anchorman
John C. Reilly was introduced to Will Ferrell through his Saturday Night Live co-star Molly Shannon and they hit it off immediately. Reilly was originally cast as Brick in Anchorman, but later had to drop out and was replaced by Steve Carell. Interestingly, Ferrell wanted Carell to appear in Talladega Nights, but he couldn’t make the shoot due to scheduling conflicts.
McKay and Ferrell thought that Reilly was hilarious at the initial Anchorman table reads before he dropped out, so they kept him in mind for their next movie (and the next one after that, Step Brothers).
A Real NASCAR Crowd Booed Girard Without Realizing He Was A Fictional Character
The driver intros for Ricky, Cal, and Girard were filmed during the real driver intros at the 2005 UAW Ford 500 in front of a real NASCAR crowd at Talladega.
Despite not knowing who any of them were — or that they were being filmed for a movie — the crowd cheered for Ricky and Cal and booed Girard when he was introduced as a Frenchman.
Some Of The Crashes Were Done For Real
Some of the biggest car crashes in the movie was done for real. Explosive jacks were placed under the cars to make them flip, and they were later removed digitally in post-production.
Gary Cole And Jane Lynch Aren’t Much Older Than Their On-Screen Son
Although Gary Cole and Jane Lynch play Will Ferrell’s parents in Talladega Nights, Cole is only 11 years older than Ferrell and Lynch is just seven years older.
Linda Hamilton, Anjelica Huston, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Jane Seymour were all considered to play Ricky’s mom before Lynch was chosen, while Hank Azaria and Maurice Benard were considered to play his dad before Cole was cast.
The Studio Didn’t Make Any Money From The Movie’s Satirically Blatant Product Placement
Due to the corporate sponsorship found all over NASCAR, Talladega Nights features a lot of satirical product placement (“If you don’t chew Big Red, then f**k you!”), like Ricky giving a shout-out to Powerade while he’s saying grace.
Sony didn’t take any money for this product placement, although Old Spice and Wonder Bread did promote the movie in a couple of back-end deals.
The Filmmakers Used Miniatures For Some Of The Racing Scenes
A lot of Talladega Nights’ racing scenes were shot at actual NASCAR events, but a couple of the shots of cars racing around a track were filmed with radio-controlled cars, each about 12 to 18 inches in size, on a speedway miniature.
Only a few milliseconds of this footage ended up in the actual movie, but they can be spotted if the movie is paused at the right moment.
Michael J. Fox Could’ve Played Girard And Jack Black Could’ve Played Cal
The casting process for Talladega Nights was a long one, as tons of renowned actors were considered for each part. Michael J. Fox, Seth Green, and John Stamos were considered to play Girard before Sacha Baron Cohen was cast. Prior to John C. Reilly’s casting, the producers considered Jack Black, Billy Crystal, and Dennis Quaid for the role of Cal.
And before Michael Clarke Duncan was cast as Lucius, dozens of huge stars were considered: Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Terry Crews, Taye Diggs, Tracy Morgan, Chris Tucker — even Shaq was considered for the part.