Ricky Bobby Zooms Into Theaters

Posted on August 4, 2006

Ricky Bobby and his NASCAR team zoom into theaters today with Talledega Nights, and we're predicting a very, very nice box office. The film's plot is a cross between a comedy and a classic sports movie.

Will Ferrell plays Ricky Bobby in the film and Sacha Baron Cohen plays his French gay racing nemesis Jean Girard. We love Ricky's Wonder Bread sponsored racing outfit. The film also stars John C. Reilly, Gary Cole and Leslie Bibb.

Will Ferrell talked to Cinema Blend about how the film came about and the character of driver Ricky Bobby. Ferrell says all the driving stunts in the film are real.

Ferrell says, "In early screenings of the film with friends and colleagues who were writers and other comedians, most of them having no knowledge of the sport their reaction was like, 'Wow. You really make the sport look really cool.'"

Ferrell says his Ricky Bobby character is a throwback. He says, "I mean he is a throwback because the guys that you meet now are real polite and nice and they have so much responsibility that they kind of can't race the way that Ricky likes to race and that sort of thing. So the ultimate goal was to have a fun movie for people who didn't know anything about racing and then also to have a little fun and pay homage to the race fans who enjoy the sport."

Ferrell also says that Talledega Nights is the second film in his "Mediocre American Man" series which began with (the hilarious) Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.



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