A friend of Will Ferrell’s who works as a struggling actor recently got married. According to Mike Walker’s column in the National Enquirer, Will arranged for a scam to get the guy and his new bride a first class European honeymoon without letting him know that Will was footing the bill. He set it up with the actor’s agent to tell him he had an audition in Paris and that all expenses would be paid. Then they told him the audition was postponed for a week, then moved to Rome. Once a few days passed in Italy with no audition, the guy called his agent and was told Will had arranged for his vacation:

Knowing his just-married pal would never accept a big cash wedding gift - or anything that smacked of charity - Will staged a scam a con man would envy! First, he had the guy’s agent call with good news: He’d landed a movie audition in Paris - and could even take his wife with him, courtesy of the producers. “The script will be waiting for you at the hotel,” said the agent. After Will’s pal and his new bride arrived in Paris, the agent phoned and said: “The audition’s postponed a week, so just stay and enjoy the city!” Five days later, another call: “The audition’s been moved to Rome. They’re sending over plane tickets, and you’ll find a revised script at your hotel.” Finally, after days in Rome and still no audition, Will’s friend got suspicious and phone his agent, demanding to know what was up. That’s when Will finally contacted his old buddy - and told him the truth: There’d never been a movie audition! He just wanted him to enjoy a great honeymoon without sweating the dough. Touched and teary-eyed, the guy couldn’t stop thanking Will, who cracked: “Hey, don’t kid me - you’re just bummed you’re not getting the movie job!”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker’s column, March 24, 2008]

That’s a great story, but it sounds like one of those “too good to be true” tales of celebrity heroism that Walker loves to write. If it’s true, it’s a very inventive way to give someone the gift of a lifetime and that was generous of Ferrell. Maybe the poor guy was sweating his upcoming audition though, and the more time passed on that sweet free vacation the more pressure he felt about the film role that never materialized.

Ferrell’s latest film, the 70s pro basketball comedy Semi Pro, was a disappointment at the box office compared to his other blockbusters. It was released on February 29 and has taken in $33 million total at the box office, which brings it below his other comedies like Talledega Nights and Blades of Glory, which each earned more in their opening weekends than Semi Pro has to date. Ferrell will next appear in Step Brothers with John C. Reilly, which is due for release in July, and is currently filming Land of The Lost.

Will Ferrell is shown on 2/25/08 outside of MTV’s TRL, thanks to PRPhotos.

Will Ferrell is promoting his new 70s basketball film Semi-Pro, which also stars Woody Harrelson and is out in US Theaters on February 29. Ferrel has an awesome retro photo shoot with a scantily-clad Heidi Klum and accompanying interview on SportsIllustrated.com, and he says he had a lot of fun doing the shoot with Heidi and didn’t even get in trouble with his wife for horsing around on set with the gorgeous model and mother of three. Unlike Klum, Ferrell was reluctant to get his kit off for the shoot, and says that people are getting sick of seeing him in his underwear and he has to be conscious of it. As for how he got along with Klum, he says “she’s a wildcat,” and if you look at the photos it shows:

When you and Heidi got together for the Swimsuit shoot, the atmosphere seemed …
Hot! Yeah, she’s a wildcat. Pretty much every shot came down to one of us trying to get the other’s pants off. The one where I’m biting her — can I say A-S-S? — that was one of the craziest moments. She told me, ‘You need to just bite my ass.’ I was kind of mimicking, half-doing it, so she stopped and said, ‘No! Really bite it!’ It was one of the most surreal moments in my entertainment life.

How did Mrs. Ferrell feel about that?
My wife is incredibly accepting of all these things. She just rolled with it. She came by the shoot and walked in right at the moment when I was biting Heidi’s butt. Heidi felt slightly self-conscious for a second — and then she went right back into it. [Will stops to tend to his 3-year-old son, Magnus.]

I bet he’s going to appreciate these photos some day.
Yeah. He’ll either be incredibly proud or incredibly embarrassed by it. One or the other. Probably the latter.

Do you have any Swimsuit memories from, well, not Magnus’ age, but after that?
I wasn’t exactly a Playboy-under-the-bed kind of kid, but I do remember — I think — a Christie Brinkley shoot down in the Seychelles Islands. I remember thinking, ‘Wait. This is Sports Illustrated? WHAT is going on here. Mooom?’ It threw me for a loop, but I remember being extremely excited about it after that.

You were one of the rare models who had issues about disrobing for SI. Why?
Well, Heidi kept trying to get me in my underwear. Begging, really. I had to say, ‘Believe me, I don’t have a problem [disrobing]; I do it a lot in my movies. But I’m riding the line of people who celebrate that and the people who are getting sick of it.’ There isn’t a moratorium on pants removal; I’m just trying to be a little more judicious about it. It put me in the unimaginable position of turning Heidi Klum down when she asked me to take my pants off.

[From SportsIllustrated.com via The Huffington Post]

There’s also a video clip from the photoshoot, but as of press time I could not get it to play. (It just plays a commercial and then stops for me.) I’ll keep checking and let you know, because I definitely want to see it.

Here’s the trailer for Semi-Pro, it looks goofy and fun.

There’s also a Semi-Pro music video contest currently on YouTube, with the chance to win prizes when you submit a clip.

Thanks to SI.com for these photos.

I love lists, especially lists of people. Any type of ranking system that lets me quickly know who to love and who to hate is aces with me. Every year, Autograph magazine releases a list of the best and worst celebrities for autograph signers. Johnny Depp has been number one for the past three years, so that’s not really surprising. What is surprising is that Will Ferrell is at the top of the worst list. Apparently he mocks people and embarrasses them when they ask for autographs, though the article wasn’t specific. He always seemed like such a nice guy to me – not like Cameron Diaz, who was at the top of the worst list for years. She used to bitch people out when they asked for autographs – and there were several reports of her telling people to f*** off over the years.

Johnny Depp, take a bow. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star who turns menacing in his new role as murderous barber Sweeney Todd, has been named the best celebrity autograph signer for the third year running. “It’s the third consecutive year Depp has topped the list of the 10 best signers. Whether at a premier, in a restaurant or on location, Depp may just be the best Hollywood autograph signer of all time,” Steve Cyrkin, the magazine’s editor and publisher, said in a statement.

And the worst? Comedian Will Ferrell and Tobey Maguire. The list does change from year to year as stars mellow and start to make time for their fans. For example Australian actor Russell Crowe, who has made newspaper headlines for his bad-boy behavior including pleading guilty in 2005 for throwing a faulty telephone at a hotel concierge moved from number 10 on the 2006 worst list to number 10 on the 2007 best list. “He may still be a bit grumpy at times, but now he signs pretty much anytime someone asks,” said Cyrkin.

“What’s so frustrating about Will Ferrell being the worst autograph signer this past year is that he used to be so nice to fans and collectors, and a great signer. What makes him so bad is that he’ll taunt people asking for his autograph.”

[From Yahoo! News]

To be fair, I get really annoyed when people ask me for my autograph too. It’s like, “Look, I’m just at the grocery store trying to get my grapefruit like everyone else. You want me to do what?” And when the lady said something about signing my credit card receipt so they could charge me, I told her to go to hell, she wasn’t getting my autograph if she was going to be a bitch about it. And as the police were leading me away, my only clear thought was, “Shit, now Autograph magazine is really going to have a beef with me.”

My easily-influenced self really doesn’t like Will Ferrell anymore. Joking aside, I’m sure it’s annoying to get asked for autographs, but isn’t that the first thing you think about in terms of the infamous “price of fame?” Even before swarms of paparazzi, I think of people hounding you for your autograph. I thought a lot of people fantasized about that before they were famous. Annoying as it probably is, to me it just says that you’re ungrateful if you won’t do it. That said, I will keep a taser with me at all times when I become famous. No way am I dealing with that shit.

Here’s the rest of the list. Alter your judgments of celebrities appropriately.

The Best

1. Johnny Depp

2. Matt Damon

3. George Clooney

4. Jack Nicholson

5. Rosario Dawson

6. John Travolta

7. Katherine Heigl

8. Jay Leno

9. Dakota Fanning

10. Russell Crowe

The Worst

1. Will Ferrell

2. Tobey Maguire

3. Joaquin Phoenix

4. William Shatner

5. Renee Zellweger

6. John Malkovich

7. Julie Andrews

8. Bruce Willis

9. Terri Hatcher

10. Scarlett Johansson

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Will Ferrell at the “Dewey Cox” premiere on December 12th. Images thanks to PR Photos. Header image of Johnny at a special screening of ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ held at the Paramount Pictures Studios on December 5th. Images thanks to WENN.

In continuation of my vow to write a “Good Celebrity” article every day, we have a wonderful story about the always endearing Will Ferrell. He’s not one of those starlets that’s always snorting coke with a needle still hanging out of his vein and his man bits hanging out like some starlets we know (ahem, Britney). Yes I realize what I just said. Anyway, Will is a pretty decent, low-key guy who’s always up for self-mockery. He also has an odd compulsion to show his hairy belly whenever he gets the chance, and that makes him loveable. What else makes him loveable, you ask? He’s auctioning off a cameo role in his new movie “Step Brothers” to benefit his college fraternity brother’s charity foundation, Cancer for College.

“Will Ferrell is auctioning a cameo spot in his new movie to raise money for a fraternity brother’s cancer foundation. Ferrell came up with the idea to help Craig Pollard’s Cancer for College foundation. The two were fraternity brothers at the University of Southern California. Online bidding will begin Monday and close Sept. 26. Ferrell will announce the winner on Sept. 27, and that person will meet the actor the next day at the 14th annual Cancer for College golf tournament dinner at Temecula Creek Inn. The opening bid for the movie appearance is $5,000.

“In October, the winner will join Ferrell on set of his new movie, ‘Step Brothers,’ and appear in a scene. ‘What a perfect Christmas present for your son or daughter,’ Ferrell said. ‘It is the surefire way to win the parent of the year award. Support this amazing cause, by buying them me.’ Pollard, a two-time survivor of Hodgkin’s disease, started Cancer for College to provide college scholarships to current and former cancer patients. The charity has awarded $200,000 to 50 cancer survivors since 1993.”

[From USA Today]

Props to Will Ferrell. I know it’s not quite as fascinating to read about someone doing something good as it is to read about Lindsay Lohan possibly selling her body for crack and/or crack money, but I think it’s important that we don’t encourage the notion that only bad behavior deserves recognition. So to make this post a tad more entertaining, I leave you with some Will Ferrell PSAs from “Talladega Nights.”

Picture note by JayBird: Header image of Will at the “Blades of Glory” L.A. premiere. Right image with wife Viveca Paulin. Images thanks to PR Photos.