Will He Or Won't He?

Ferrell is certain the currents of anger in his intense comic stylings are rooted in his parents' divorce (he was a child when they split); at the same time, he says he really hasn't psychoanalyzed the matter. In high school, he cracked kids up by re-creating skits he'd seen on ''SCTV.'' He later attended USC as an aspiring sportscaster, but the idea of paying his dues at some station in Nowhere, North Dakota, made him reconsider.

Within two years he was a member of the L.A. comedy troupe the Groundlings; a year later, in 1995, he was on ''SNL,'' where he would eventually become an Emmy nominee. His is an aggressively overcommitted kind of comedy -- one that's completely at odds with his affably low-watt offscreen demeanor. ''Will is like a sniper,'' says ''Elf'' director Jon Favreau. ''He's real quiet. He waits for the opportunity, then goes for the kill shot. He's not a guy who puts a lot out there when we're not rolling. He's very demure and soft-spoken. He doesn't take over a room when he walks into it like other comics.'' But he is fearless (while filming a streaking sequence in ''Old School,'' he refused to wear a robe between takes), and he has those eyes -- small orbs tucked under a sharp ridge of brow, capable of switching from cuddly to crazy in a blink. ''He's got this total thousand-yard stare that's scary-hilarious,'' says Luke Wilson. ''There were times in a scene where I couldn't look at him -- I'd look just off to the side of him -- because otherwise I'd crack up.''

Still, for every Eddie Murphy that has successfully segued from ''SNL'' to movies, there have also been about eight Joe Piscopos. Which is why Ferrell has a plan, cooked up with his managers, who also helped Jim Carrey make the transition from ''In Living Color'' to ''Liar Liar'' to ''The Truman Show.'' Phase one: ''Old School,'' which Ferrell says he took more for the bittersweet scenes that track his character's unraveling marriage than for the goofball shenanigans. ''Todd said to me, 'You're going to play a three- dimensional person. Nobody has seen you do that yet,''' the actor recalls. ''He totally delivered on that promise. He allowed me to play it -- dare I say? -- at different levels.''

Phase two: ''Elf,'' his first solo star turn. ''We were interested in tackling the big commercial vehicle -- to see if we can crack the code,'' says Ferrell, who took the project only after bringing aboard the indie-minded Favreau to direct and overseeing several rewrites meant to give some edge to the Christmas flick's softness. If ''Elf'' (due out in November) boosts Ferrell's clout, he wants to use it to produce more offbeat projects -- like ''Anchorman,'' a satire he's written about local newscasters, or a TV miniseries about an inept Bob Vila-like home repairman. ''If 'Elf' only opens the door to a string of kids' movies,'' he says, ''no offense to kids' movies, but that won't be a plus.''

He'd also like to try drama -- and given how thoughtfully he presents himself in conversation, it might not be a stretch. ''But that's way in the back of my mind,'' he says. Right now, it's all about not slipping and falling in the precarious pool of Hollywood. ''I just want to avoid ending up in a ditch,'' he says with a chuckle, ''sad, lonely, depressed, and destitute.'' And, of course, covered in goop.