The Foot Fist Way follows Fred Simmons (McBride), a Tae Kwon Do instructor who teaches kids the importance of self-control, perservance, and integrity in a small town Tae Kwon Do studio. Simmons’ life comes apart at the seams when he finds out his wife’s had a couple of affairs. Hill, McBride, Ferrell, Best, and McKay joined forces for a press conference in support of the film’s release.
The Foot Fist Way Press Conference
How did you all come to work together to make this film?
Will Ferrell: “It started with these guys.”
Ben Best: “We all went to film school together at the North Carolina School of the Arts. After that we all kind of scattered.”
Will Ferrell: “Recently shut down for embezzlement.”
Ben Best: “And we kind of scattered. For seven years we were just kind of making ends meet, barely. And then Jody, luckily, had been saving up money because Danny and I sure weren’t. He came to town and said, ‘Hey, you want to make a movie?’ And I was like, ‘I need to do something because it’s falling apart.’”
Danny McBride: “Rehab wasn’t working. ‘Let’s make a motion picture.’”
Ben Best: “Yeah, let’s make a motion picture.”
Adam McKay: “You saved money?”
Jody Hill: “Yeah, I saved about $30,000. Then I applied for as many credit cards as I could get. It’s funny because they start you out with $17,000 if you have good credit. Then on your fourth or fifth credit card it’s like $500. I got a bunch of those and just I paid for the movie and it got into Sundance. Then shortly thereafter, Will and Adam saw it.”
Will Ferrell: “Somehow it was one of those films that kind of didn’t get picked up for whatever reason and we were like, ‘How did this not get distributed?’ We'd just started [the production company] Gary Sanchez. It was kind of the perfect thing for us to be our first film to be involved with.”
What did you guys think was intrinsically funny about Tae Kwon Do?
Jody Hill: “I don’t know if there’s anything intrinsically funny about Tae Kwon Do. Tae Kwon Do was what I took so that’s why I did [it]. I think there’s something funny about a strip mall kind of franchise business approach to martial arts, rather than some type of Zen.”
Will Ferrell: “These guys were so specific in the world that they kind of captured, that’s where the humor comes in.”
Ben Best: “I don’t think we were necessarily trying to look at Tae Kwon Do and say, ‘That’s funny.’ I think it’s more of the strip mall dojo instructor that is dispensing wisdom in this ancient martial art to kids that are basically after school, day care or something.”
Will Ferrell: “In small town North Carolina.”
Danny McBride: “Concord. That's how everybody says the name there - ConCORD.”
Will Ferrell: “If anyone is from the Tae Kwon Do Association of America here, we’re not making fun.”
Adam McKay: “Will Ferrell says bring it on.”
Who came up with the name?
Jody Hill: “It's the literal translation of Tae Kwon Do.”
Danny McBride: “So some Korean guy.”
Is it confusing?
Danny McBride: “We like to hear people murder it: The Fist Foot Way, Fuddrucker's… We get that a lot, Fuddrucker's the Movie.”
Who can kick whose butt behind the scenes?
Jody Hill: “Adam and Will actually sandwiched me one day after a…”
Ben Best: “That wasn’t a fight though. That was more of a sexual fight.”
Jody Hill: “Yeah, I did say sandwich.”
Adam McKay: “You have a black belt, don’t you?”
Jody Hill: “I do. I do.”
Danny McBride: “I was a Ranger for many years. 27 years I was a Ranger.”
Jody Hill: “Ben always has a 9 millimeter on his ankle.”
Danny McBride: “And a chip on his shoulder. That’s a deadly combination.”
Ben Best: “That’s a bad combination.”
Did you get into a lot of fights as a young kid?
Jody Hill: “Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, I got into it. I really wasn’t good at it.”
Will, when did you first see it and when did you decide to get involved?
Will Ferrell: “I first saw it in my hotel room when I was shooting Blades of Glory in Montreal. I immediately urinated on myself, which has never happened to me watching a film before. So my first reaction was, ‘I have a medical problem.’ So I went through a series of tests. I went to Scripps Institute for a battery of tests.”
Adam McKay: “What kind of tests?”
Will Ferrell: “Psychology, physical, checking your urine, bladder, a weightless chamber - all these things. I was like, ‘This is way too much. I feel like this is overkill.’ Turns out I was perfectly fine. I continued watching the film. Meanwhile, Adam, you were watching the film as well. I called you up.”
Adam McKay: “I had seen it. I was at home. It’s the kind of movie that makes you breathless. You just watch it and you get so excited. I called [Will] up and he was at the Scripps, and I couldn’t reach him afterwards because you were doing the tests.”
Will Ferrell: “Yeah, I was in my hospital room.”
Adam McKay: “Then they went through a second wave of tests.”
Will Ferrell: “And Adam called me literally screaming. [Imitating Adam] ‘Oh my God, oh my God!’ ‘Adam, is your house on fire? What’s going on? Call me back when you calm down.’”
Adam McKay: “About three hours later I called him back and I’m like, ‘My house was on fire,’ and he raced over there. I’m like, ‘No I just like this movie.’ That was it. We literally went over to these guys’ houses and gave them a brief case with $80,000 and the deal was sealed.”
Danny McBride: “‘Welcome to Hollywood. Now let’s get that tattoo.’”
Page 2: More from The Foot Fist Way Press Conference
