Will Ferrell Puts the Funk in the Dunk

Hollywood's favorite funnyman becomes an Afro-sporting baller.

ByABC News
February 9, 2009, 10:10 AM

Feb. 28, 2008 — -- For Will Ferrell, sports comedies mean big bucks at the box office and a string of new quotes for the international lexicon.

After he raced cars in Talladega, Ferrell had millions yelling "Shake and bake!" He donned a spandex one-piece suit to "kick some ice" in "Blades of Glory." And he took lumps from father Robert Duvall in the kids soccer movie "Kicking and Screaming."

With his latest comedy, the basketball saga "Semi-Pro," Ferrell promises new laughs when he puts the funk in the dunk.

In an interview with Peter Travers for ABC News Now's "Popcorn," the funnyman admits he has a propensity for sports comedies, but explains: "It is the third-slash-fourth sports comedy I've done. But this one's special because I love basketball."

The star, a lifelong jock and sports broadcasting major, describes "Semi-Pro" as a passion project.

"I love the story of the ABA [American Basketball Association] that a lot of people don't know, which was this alternate universe to the NBA, and had all these insane characters," he said.

Foremost among that cast of insane characters is Ferrell's Afro-sporting, bear-wrestling on-screen persona Jackie Moon. Like Ferrell's past characters, Moon is more talk than talent. Ferrell explains that Moon, owner-coach-player for the Flint Tropics, "was the heart and soul of the team, but not the best player necessarily. He'd make a key shot every now and then."

"Semi-Pro" follows fledgling ABA teams, like Moon's Flint Tropics, through a merger with the more lucrative NBA. At the fore of the film is the rowdiness of the psychedelic 1970s. Ferrell said jokingly, "The '70s were insane, I think, intrinsically a funny period of time."

To read Peter Travers' Rolling Stone Review of "Semi-Pro," please click here.