After those entertaining pre-game introductions at the Bulls-Hornets game, I was hoping Will Ferrell would build a comedic feature around an arrogant, dim-witted sports announcer. Why not, right? Ferrell has tailored full-length comedies on thinner caricatures. Instead, though, Variety reports that the Anchorman lead is attaching his name to The Flamingo Thief, which Michael LeSier (You, Me and Dupree) will write.
Based on a Susan Trott novel, Thief reportedly centers around a lawyer named Tim Forrester (Ferrell) who becomes obsessed with his collection of flamingo figurines, even as his wife is in the process of leaving him. Thief, much like Ferrell’s recent Everything Must Go, was a Black List screenplay that’s finally seeing the light of day. Variety adds that Red Hour Films is behind Thief, and that Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfield will produce the comedy.
Does it sound thin? Sure, but no less inconsequential than “a NASCAR driver has anger issues,†and look at how well Talladega Nights did at the box office. Most of Ferrell’s comedies lack depth. I don’t think that’s what his fan base looks for in a Ferrell film.
No word yet on who Ferrell might lure to the director’s chair for Flamingo. As we reported, Step Brothers director Adam McKay just saw Sony pull the plug on his planned adaptation of The Boys, so he’s free. In the meantime, Ferrell has the Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre coming to theaters in the spring (it will play SXSW in March), and is currently filming the political comedy Dog Fight in Louisiana with Zach Galifianakis.
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