USA: "Blades of Glory," starring Will Ferrell as one half of an all-male figure skating pair, debuts at Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood

Record ID: 276899

  • Title: USA: "Blades of Glory," starring Will Ferrell as one half of an all-male figure skating pair, debuts at Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood
  • Date: 5th April 2007
  • Summary: FILM POSTER PAN TO WILL FERRELL TALKING TO REPORTERS
  • Embargoed: 20th April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAA1LERY86WPQZGJBXCT1CA5HYC
  • Story Text: Comic actor Will Ferrell plays one member of an all-male figure skating pair in "Blades of Glory," which premiered at Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood Wednesday evening (March 28). The film is about two rival figure skaters -- the other being "Napoleon Dynamite" star Jon Heder -- who are banned from the sport for indecent conduct and must work together to get back in as a pair. Although much of the figure skating in the film is aided by extensive rigging systems or performed by stuntmen, the hardest part of shooting for Ferrell was the wardrobe choice.
    "We worked with a very talented wardrobe designer, Julie Weiss, so she kind of came up with all the concepts, which was nice because every idea I loved. But I was an advocate of the fire costume, which is an integral proponent of the 'fire and ice' routine," says actor Will Ferrell.
    Ferrell's character, Chazz Michael Michaels is the rock star of the skating world, constantly breaking the rules and leaving female fans to swoon. Heder plays Jimmy MacElroy, a former child prodigy who stands as a the picture of poise and the personification of perfection in the men's sport. After they tie at a competition, they break out into a brawl, and are both banned from the sport. Three and a half years later, they get the idea to put aside their hatred for each other, put on form-fitting spandex body suits, and skate as a pair.
    "It's very free, liberating, you kind of feel like there's no inhibitions, there's nothing between you and the world. You know, normally, clothes, what someone wears tells so much about themselves, and how much they want to -- sometimes you feel like you can hide in your clothes, you wear the hat, or whatever, but in this, it's kind of like there's nothing, you're a performer, you're out there. I sound totally cheesy, but it's the truth," says actor Jon Heder.
    "Arrested Development" actor Will Arnett and "Saturday Night Live" alumnus Amy Poehler, both husband and wife in real life, play a brother and sister figure skating pair rivaling Ferrell and Heder's "Fire and Ice" routine in the film. Also starring in "Blades of Glory" is Jenna Fischer, well known for her role on the American version of British sitcom "The Office," who said working with such a gifted comedy team made it easy to go to work every day.
    "Yeah, the whole movie was a little bit like attending a master class for comedy every day, because there was a lot of downtime, you know, there's big elaborate skating sequences, and during the time when they're setting all that up off camera, we got to hang out a lot, and they're just hilarious, and you know, Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler, having been on "Saturday Night Live" together, they were like, they're geniuses together," says actress Jenna Fischer.
    Also appearing in the film are real-life figure skating giants like Dorothy Hamill, Brian Boitano, Nancy Kerrigan, Sasha Cohen, and Scott Hamilton, who were able to relate to Ferrell and Heder's bad luck on the ice when first starting out.
    "I didn't see him skate, but I saw some of the practices, and the rigging was incredible, to see, to make the tricks come to life, it was really neat," says Olympic silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan, on Will Ferrell's practice on the ice.
    "It was hysterical. What's great about it is all the comedy that goes into them learning how to skate together in this movie references so many things, and it's so off the wall and it's so absurd, and there's so many moments in it where you go 'Ok they went there, they weren't afraid to do that' and 'Wow, they actually did that,' and it's funny, and it catches you off guard, a lot of it catches you completely off guard, and you can't believe they did that, you can't believe they went there, and wow, that's funny," adds Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, speaking of his reaction to seeing the film for the first time.
    Ferrell, no stranger to physical comedy, is eager to get started with another goal of his before his extensive training for "Blades of Glory" fades away.
    "Yes, I do have aspirations of making our winter Olympic team, in fact I'm announcing that right now for the first time, I haven't started training, but I've got a good lock, I have Michelle Kwan's home number, so I've been calling her a lot, she hasn't been calling me back, but I'm hoping to make the team."
    "Blades of Glory" skates its way into theaters on March
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