Summary
Will Ferrell briefly appears inWedding Crashersin one of the greatest comedy movie cameos ever, but his scene almost didn’t happen.Wedding Crashersstars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey, two friends who make a game out of going uninvited to weddings to sleep with the single women there, lying about their backgrounds and histories — until they both accidentally fall in love. A hilarious and R-rated bromance,Wedding Crashersis filled with likable characterswho the audience can’t help but cheer for even through their less savory moments.
While this 2005 movie is outside the Adam McKay and Judd Apatow universes which dominated comedy in the early 2000s to mid-2010s, evenWedding Crasherscan’t escape the inexorable pull of insertingone of the greatest comedy leading menin the story, even for a cameo, in the form of Will Ferrell.Ferrell was the undisputed king of comedy in the 2000s and 2010s, and he helmed the resurgence of R-rated comedies withOld School,Semi-Pro, andStep Brothersto name a few, and yet his appearance inWedding Crashersalmost didn’t happen.
10 Iconic Will Ferrell Characters, Ranked By Likability
Throughout his career, Will Ferrell has played characters ranging from lovable goofballs like Buddy the Elf to loudmouthed jerks like Ron Burgundy.
Will Ferrell’s Chazz Reinhold Wasn’t In The Original Wedding Crashers Script
Owen Wilson And The Director Wanted To Add Another Funny Scene At The End
Originally, Will Ferrell and his character Chazz Reinhold weren’t in the script.Chazz is the mysterious man who taught Jeremy the art of wedding crashingand towards the end of the film, John goes to see him. The Owen Wilson character is less than impressed by the middle-aged man swinging nunchucks, watching cartoons, and yelling at his mother (whom he lives with) to bring meatloaf. Chazz has even managed to outdo his own sliminess, now moving on to crashing funerals. “Grief is nature’s most powerful aphrodisiac,” he sagely tells John. Every single line out of Ferrell’s mouth is hilarious.
It’s a welcome surprise as Ferrell’s appearance was not even hinted at in the film, and he creates incredible energy just as the story is winding down, but it almost didn’t happen.
It’s a welcome surprise as Ferrell’s appearance was not even hinted at in the film, and he creates incredible energy just as the story is winding down, but it almost didn’t happen. Director David Dobkin toldEW,
“This scene wasn’t in the movie, and there was a moment when Owen was like, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if we crashed funerals?’… and then later when I was looking for an all is lost moment I said, ‘Owen, what if you go see Chazz? You mention this guy Chazz and we never see him in the movie. What if you wanted to go see this guy to get some advice and he was crashing funerals? And you think all of this sounds really dark and you’re really at your bottom, but when you go with him and you’re at the funeral, it feels all wrong and you realize you should be by your friend’s side.’ And so Owen kind [sic] went and wrote that scene.”
Dobkin, Wilson, and Vaughn all wanted Ferrell for the role, who starred opposite Wilson inZoolanderand Vaughn inOld School. When Dobkin finally got him on set, he had only one day to film, and his direction consisted primarily of telling Ferrell to push it further,
“I remember it was midnight the night before and we were still trying to nail Will down. He got in in the morning, he read it, and he came out with his kimono on and the nunchucks, which was Owen’s idea that he have those around his neck. [Will] was like, ‘You want me to wear this?!’ He was very laid back in the first take and I remember looking at him and I just said, ‘I think he’s a little crazier.’ [Laughs] Which is bad direction by the way. He was like, ‘Oh, I know what you mean,’ and he did it again, and I was like, ‘Maybe more?’ I mean, I really believe that I directed him by just saying ‘more’ until he had that fifth take and that is the whole take that is in the movie. It was one of those things that you shoot and you’re like, ‘Is this really going to work?’ It’s a pretty weird sequence.”
It is a pretty weird sequence, but it’s also one of the funniest cameos in a comedy movie.
Test Audiences Went Wild For Ferrell’s Wedding Crashers Cameo — Before They Even Knew It Was Him
The first test screening let Dobkin know that his strange Will Ferrell sequence was a winner. When they showed the film, Dobkin said,
“The craziest thing happened, which is that when Will comes walking down those steps as Chazz, you cannot see him, and there is an audible reaction of people starting to laugh and have this reaction to the character before you even see that it’s Will. I can never explain it, and I remember showing it to Owen later and being like,' ‘How do they know? What is it that they think is about to happen here?’ I always wondered what it was the audience thought was coming down those steps, because the energy in the theater was just so crazy. And I think at that point of the movie you’ve had so much fun, it’s such a great ride that you’re just not expecting one more thing.”
There is something ominous about the way Chazz is hidden in the shadows before he reveals himself and the camera pan over to him is jarring, but at the same time, he’s clearly wearing a shiny bathrobe, sothere’s a juxtaposition of menace and absurdity that an audience can’t help but laugh at. After the warm reception, Dobkin knew what he had on his hands and had to beg the studio not to use Ferrell’s (uncredited) cameo in the marketing of the film.
The late Arizona Senator John McCain and CNN contributor James Carville also made cameos inWedding Crashersas friends of U.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Cleary (Christopher Walken).
Dobkin said about the surprise reveal,
“Every first trailer that they cut had him in it, and I was like, ‘Guys, you can’t do that, you’re ruining the joy of a reveal. Yeah, you need to sell the movie but you’ve also got to leave an experience for people and something for them to discover. We asked all of the reviewers, ‘Please don’t ever say that he’s in the movie,’ and there was so much love for the film that no one leaked it. It was such a lovely thing.”
Maintaining the surprise appearance of Will Ferrell does make his incredible cameo work even better.Wedding Crashersis filled with memorable and hilarious moments and saving a literal surprise reveal at the end for the best joke finishes the movie on a high note, ensuring the audience gets to the credits happy and laughing.
Wedding Crashers
Cast
Wedding Crashers is a comedy film that follows John and Jeremy, two divorce mediators who seek hook-ups by crashing various weddings. The two find themselves at odds when, at one of the biggest wedding events of the year, John falls head over heels for a woman, threatening to break up their current way of life.
