Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is far more than one of the best Will Ferrell movies, as it’s also a comedy staple of 2000s cinema. Adam McKay’s racecar comedy sees Ferrell at the peak of his powers, and it features some moments that still make me laugh today. One of the most surprising moments in the film happens during the ending, at which point Bobby shares a passionate kiss with Sacha Baron Cohen’s Jean Girard. Now, I’m looking at that differently after learning some key behind-the-scenes information.
In the film, Bobby and Girard become fierce rivals upon the latter joining NASCAR but, in time, they do find a bit of common ground. Their competitiveness culminates into a showdown and eventual car wreck at the Talladega Superspeedway, where they later engage in a foot race. Ricky ultimately wins that (illegal) race, and Girard concedes. While Girard extends a congratulatory handshake after that, Bobby, instead, offers him a passionate kiss, which is cheered on by the thousands of fans in attendance.
Adam McKay recently reflected on the making of the film as part of a retrospective conducted by Business Insider. Eventually, McKay discussed the kiss seen around the race car stadium or, at least, I thought it was seen by spectators. McKay revealed that there were no live crowds present when the kiss was filmed and, not only that, but the moment came together in a relatively surprising way:
The kiss was improvised. Sacha came to me and said, ‘We have to kiss, right?’ And I was like, ‘You know, two guys kissing, we like silly comedy, but is it a little hacky?’ And he said, ‘But, I’m a gay French experimental artist and Ricky Bobby is American South,’ and I said, ‘You know what? Let’s shoot it.’ So we were on the track, but that was not a live crowd there when we did it. The kiss wasn’t scripted, but when we put it in the cut, I knew it hit perfectly.
Said scene does indeed hit the right note, and I’d argue that it’s one of the most memorable moments from the film (which is currently streamable with a Hulu subscription). Considering the emotional weight of that moment, I’m really surprised to hear it was improvised. Also, I do indeed know scenes in movies and TV that take place in crowded areas don’t always necessarily include various extras. But I could’ve sworn this kiss moment was shot in front of various onlookers. McKay also added this in regard to how the scene was received:
I believe there were some walkouts in theaters because of that shot, and maybe there were some NASCAR folks who weren’t happy with that, but overall, NASCAR has totally embraced the movie. I know the drivers love the movie. I think a driver wrapped his car with the cougar head. And once there was a wreck, and the driver started running to the finish line.
A lot of improvisation apparently happens with McKay’s movies, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that even a big moment like that smooch would be a spur-of-the-moment kind of addition. To that point, Will Ferrell previously spoke about improvising with co-star John C. Reilly, who made him crack up on set. What McKay, Ferrell, Reilly, Cohen and co. captured was lightning in a bottle, and the result is a flick that deserves to be named amongst the great sports movies.
In hindsight, the film is even more precious due to the fact that Will Ferrell and Adam McKay have since split up as creative partners. The pair had different career goals at the time they parted ways in 2019, but McKay is opening to working with Ferrell again. So that begs the question of whether they could ever come back together to produce the Talladega sequel they talked about so many years ago.
Such a sequel would have a high bar to clear, though, since Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby works so well as a standalone film. Nearly 20 years after its theatrical release, it’s still worth a watch and, on that note, I’m going to give it another look and pay keen attention to that kiss scene.