Will Ferrell brings unlikely co-star Mel Gibson to family comedy Daddy’s Home 2, 11 years after rant
US star believes role in new family comedy will help continue the Australian actor’s rehabilitation in Hollywood after his infamous 2006 drink-driving arrest and anti-Semitic outburst
This family reunion comes with a dose of holiday high jinks – and some extra baggage.
Will Ferrell’s new comedy, Daddy’s Home 2, centres around his overly earnest character Brad Whitaker co-existing with his wife’s rough-and-tough ex-husband Dusty Mayron (played by Mark Wahlberg), until drama ensues when their respective fathers come to town for Christmas.
The film features a controversial cast addition in Mel Gibson, who stars in his first family comedy in more than 10 years since his infamous 2006 drink-driving arrest and anti-Semitic rant, followed by audio of hateful tirades against an ex-girlfriend that went public four years later.
Gibson, who plays Dusty’s bad-boy father Kurt in the new film, has slowly returned to Hollywood after a lengthy hiatus from mainstream filmmaking, notably starring in the 2014 thriller The Expendables 3 and directing the Oscar-nominated war drama Hacksaw Ridge last year. Ferrell believes viewers will embrace seeing Gibson, 61, in a different type of role.
Film review: Hacksaw Ridge – Mel Gibson’s triumphant return in gory war drama
“He’s going to open audiences’ eyes with how great he is in comedy,” Ferrell says. “I think this was kind of a fun thing for him to step outside, be on camera after having an absence for a while, and also [doing] a family comedy was something he hasn’t really done,” he says. “I think if he chooses to do more of that, he’s going to be more than back.”
The Daddy’s Home sequel – due out in the US this Friday – hits cinemas a little under two years after the original, which introduced Ferrell’s character as the goofy, excessively upbeat stepfather to Dusty’s two children.
Ferrell – whose father is played by John Lithgow – didn’t originally anticipate making a sequel, but after the success of the first Daddy’s Home, he decided he was on board as long as they came up with a worthwhile storyline featuring the right characters.
“We really wanted to see someone come down the escalator like a Mel Gibson, and without even saying a word of dialogue, you knew, ‘Oh, this is why Dusty acts the way he acts,’” Ferrell explains. “And the same with John and why I’m so touchy-feely, and open with my feelings, and positive parenting and things like that.”
