Imogen Farris, Staff Writer
“Get Hard” premiered in theaters March 27 with comedy duo Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. Ferrell plays a white-collar CEO named James heading for a 10-year stint in San Quentin for fraud. Ferrell hires Hart, who works at a car wash, to help him prepare and get hard for jail. Hart’s character, Darnell Lewis, has never been to jail, but is in desperate need of the upcoming payday.
Ferrell said the idea for the film came from his longtime friend and writing partner Adam McKay. After working through the idea, the next step was to figure out who would play opposite of Ferrell.
“I mean the first name we started with was Kevin, and kinda called him up and pitched him the idea,” Ferrell said. “Lucky for us, he was into it.”
The film focuses on many serious social situations including racial stereotyping, homophobia and rape. Viewers should be prepared that while the movie will keep them laughing, many uncomfortable situations may arise.
“I think it’s a great way to kind of explore our differences once you kinda get through the chatter and realize how similar we are,” Ferrell said when asked about the serious social tensions. “And kinda through that, examining through the filter of comedy we’re just able to point out how silly these attitudes are.”
Both Hart and Ferrell are well-known for their comedy and improv skills. Hart says it’s important to have a strong foundation of comedy before being able to improv.
“We had a good foundation,” Hart said. “We always wanted to get what we had on page because we felt that our writers did a great job doing it.”
This film is also the directorial debut for Etan Cohen, a well-known comedy writer responsible for films such as “Tropic Thunder” and “Idiocracy.”
“It was a great experience working with Etan,” Ferrell said. “And it was a real benefit when you can have a writer as strong as Etan kind of feeding you extra jokes and that sort of thing.”
Hart couldn’t agree more with Ferrell.
“We got lucky,” he said. “I think all and all everyone helped each other and Etan’s confidence grew as the movie progressed and we got a final product because of it, so I take my hat off to him. He did a great job.”
When asked how he prepared for the film, Ferrell said he spent most of his time watching shows on the cooking channel.
“It didn’t help me at all,” Ferrell said. “In fact, totally it was a waste of time and if I had to do it over again I wouldn’t have watched those shows.”
While Darnell Lewis helped prepare millionaire James King for prison in “Get Hard,” Ferrell says he personally does not feel he would survive in prison.
“My best strategy would be … to not go,” Ferrell said. “I unfortunately don’t feel any more qualified or any more confident that I would survive in prison. I would just have to act crazy to keep people away from me.”
