Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrell are two of the most bankable—and funniest— comedy stars in the world right now, so the announcement of their first major project together, The Campaign, was cause for optimism. Another vote in their favor: Galifianakis is clearly doing a variation on a hilarious character he’s done for years—his twin brother Seth, a.k.a. “the effeminate racist.” The movie, about a Southern career politician (Ferrell) who’s challenged for his congressional seat by a rube (Galifianakis), sounds simple, but the two actors—who both also produced—aim a bit higher. It’s remarkably pointed and complex for a movie that features a baby being punched in the face. Galifianakis’ character, Marty Huggins, isn’t just a do-gooder looking to challenge the morally bankrupt Cam Brady; he’s a good man with serious daddy issues. Both actors get the chance to play hero and villain, with the real political evil represented by Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow, whose Motch brothers are barely disguised representations of real-life conservative campaign-funders the Koch brothers. The A.V. Club spoke with Ferrell and Galifianakis about the film at Chicago’s Wrigley Field during a whirlwind press tour, as they were getting ready to throw out the first pitch and eager to hit the bathroom.
The A.V. Club: You’re both in the position to be choosy about what movies you make. What draws you to the movies you make in general, and to The Campaign in particular?
Will Ferrell: This all came about from me personally wanting to work with Zach, and seeing a character he had done that became Marty Huggins, and thinking it was one of the funniest characters I had ever seen. And selfishly trying to think of a project where I could piggyback on that. That kind of morphed, after a couple discussions with people, into, “If you’re going to do Southern characters, why don’t you do something about the election process, like two dueling congressmen?”
AVC: So it’s no secret that this is really the Seth Galifianakis movie.
Zach Galifianakis: They’re similar characters. [Laughs.] One just got plucked from the Internet onto the silver screen, magically. It was a character I was doing in high school, called the effeminate racist. I did it for my dad and a couple people. I did it over the years here and there, then started developing it more and more, and I’d go onstage with it. As far as working on this movie, if Will wanted to do a movie about glove compartments, I’d go, “Okay!”
WF: That is in development. It’s almost a Waiting For Godot thing. It’s the inside of a glove compartment. Very dark.
ZG: It’s just black. You hear mumbling of people in a car, talking about how they can’t find their sunglasses or their map or their insurance card. It’s gonna be a Kenneth Branagh-type thing.
WF: We’ll start at five hours, see if the audience has the guts for it.
AVC: The movie is really funny, but the political message is bleak.