USA: Will Ferrell gets the "checkered" flag at the premiere of his latest film, "Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby."

Will Ferrell showed his star power on Wednesday night (July 26) as he cruised down Hollywood Blvd. in a race car prior to attending the premiere of his latest comedy, "Talladega Nights: The legend of Ricky Bobby." Outside the Grauman's Chinese Theatre, fans lined up for a chance to catch a glimpse of the actor who's now seen as a "bankable" Hollywood player. "Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby" tells the story of NASCAR racing sensation Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell), whose "win at all costs" approach has made him a national hero. He and his loyal racing partner and childhood friend, Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly), are a fearless duo that thrill their fans by finishing most races in the top spots - with Ricky Bobby always leading the pack. When a flamboyant French Formula One driver, Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), challenges him for the supremacy of NASCAR, Ricky Bobby must face his own demons and fight Girard for the right to be known as racing's top driver. The idea to spoof NASCAR, which is hugely popular in the United States, seemed like a natural fit, explained Ferrell. "This came from myself and my friend Adam McKay," said Ferrell. "We wrote "Anchorman" together and he directed it and in an effort to get our next project going, we were thinking of an idea that no one had thought of and we just started thinking about NASCAR. It was so popular and we just couldn't figure out why no one was using it for a comedy. That's how it started," he said. Ferrell told Reuters that he studied a number of previous films on NASCAR, prior to making "Talladega Nights." Included in that list was the Tom Cruise action adventure, "Days of Thunder." Ferrell then added that he's now a NASCAR fan. "You know I knew nothing before and I don't know if I would have called myself a fan. Then when we started to go to races and meet the people and be around the sport, we kind of got hooked," he said. Ferrell's co-star, John C. Reilly, said that the hardest part of making "Talladega Nights" was to keep from laughing during the filming. "Will is one of those guys that I just look at him and I start laughing," Reilly told Reuters. "It was definitely hard to keep a straight face. But, I cracked him up a few times too. You want that in a comedy, you want everyone laughing." "Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby" opens nationwide in the United States on August 4.

ITN Source | July 27, 2006

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