Adam McKay still sounds pretty wistful about his old comedy ex Will Ferrell

McKay was talking to Business Insider for the 20th anniversary of Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby, his and Ferrell’s second movie together. (Nestled in between Anchorman and Step Brothers, and so far back in history that anyone alive to watch it in theaters now surely resembles some flavor of Halloween store skeleton.) McKay waxes nostalgic about working with Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and even Sacha Baron Cohen, who sounds like he was kind of a nightmare to collaborate with on the movie. (The not-yet-Borat star apparently hopped in and out of signing on as the film’s semi-antagonist, and was annoying enough about his jokes getting excised from an early cut that McKay just gave in and let him into the editing room.) 

After reflecting on the film’s commentary track, which McKay and Ferrell ironically recorded together as if they were looking back at the movie from 25 years on, McKay is inevitably hit with the bittersweet question: Would he ever work with Ferrell, who he apparently had a final break with after he refused to cast him in his NBA HBO series Winning Time—again?

I totally have been open to the idea. We always got along great, we were tremendous creative partners. The only thing that caused acrimony between us was when we decided to end our production company, Gary Sanchez. And I know it was reported one way or the other, but that was really it. It’s a shame because we had a great creative partnership. I think both of us underestimated the complications that go with not just having a company, but a very successful company. We had it for a long time and did a lot of cool projects. And Ferrell said it publicly, he was never someone who wanted to produce, so he was always half in and half out, but then he would love it and be proud of the company, but by the end, he wanted to move on. It had become too much extra work; it was never his passion. I was really the one who wanted to produce, but a movie star’s life is very different than a writer-director’s life. So we split up. But life goes on. We had a great run. I certainly have no hard feelings and, who knows, we’ll see what happens. 

Ferrell is currently gearing up to star in his new Netflix golf comedy The Hawk. As far as we can tell, he hasn’t said a word publicly about McKay since the two released a joint statement (in which they stated “The two of us will always work together creatively and always be friends”) about closing Gary Sanchez in 2019.