So what movies does Ferrell want to make? He's about to begin shooting a $100 million remake of the cult '70s kids' TV series Land of the Lost, and he recently pitched a far less commercially obvious movie to potential investors. ''It's this wonderful story in the comedy-drama category,'' he says. ''It's a real story about a guy who was asked to redesign the traffic-light system in Baghdad once the [invasion] was done.'' But the venture capital firm Ferrell approached about financing the film turned the idea down: ''They ran the numbers in this weird, clinical way: 'War movie, Will Ferrell — does not compute.'''
From the start, comedy stardom seemed to be less of a goal for Ferrell than an unlikely by-product of an unanticipated career. Growing up in Irvine, Calif., he was more interested in sports than anything else and planned to become a sportscaster until, veering toward comedy after college, he joined the L.A. improv troupe the Groundlings. Hired onto the cast of SNL in 1995, he didn't make much of an impression at first ('''Most annoying newcomer' was one review,'' he remembers) but soon emerged as the show's biggest draw, with characters like Craig the Spartan cheerleader and music teacher Marty Culp as well as his devastating impressions of George W. Bush.
In 2003, with his slow-growing film career about to explode thanks to Old School and Elf, Ferrell still had difficulty convincing studio executives to roll the dice on his brand of humor. Pitching the first film he'd co-written with McKay, a comedy called Anchorman about a vain, chauvinistic TV newsman, he encountered stiff resistance from DreamWorks execs. ''They obviously didn't get it, even while we were filming,'' Ferrell says. ''They said, 'Why would 13-year-olds care about newspeople?' We were like, 'It's about broad, funny characters! It's Austin Powers!'''
Five years later, those same 13-year-olds are now in college, and tonight, a few thousand of them are packed into URI's sports arena, screaming out lines from Anchorman and other favorites. Having come of age in the Ferrell era, they have a powerful bond with the star. ''They feel like they know him,'' Arnett says later. ''When they see him, it's almost like, 'Where have you been? We just tapped a new keg! You're late!'''
NEXT PAGE: '' Everyone has their moments, for sure. But I'm a firm believer that you can be relatively normal and still have crazy comedic thoughts.''
