Galifianakis hits the road for candid celebrity interviews

An old idea is new again, this time as a feature-length film, Between Two Ferns: The Movie.

Zach Galifianakis in a scene from Between Two Ferns: The Movie.

How do the creators of a five-­minute sketch comedy show turn their cult hit into a film? Or as actor Zach Galifianakis puts it: “How do you beat a dead horse properly?”

Between Two Ferns: The Movie, streaming on Netflix from Friday, brings back the ­celebrity-interview spoof that racked up millions of views since the first of its 22 episodes hit the internet in 2008.

The film is a mockumentary about Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, an Emmy award-winning video series for the website Funny or Die. Gali­fianakis reprises his role as a ­public-access television show host who asks famous people obnoxious questions.

In the film Galifianakis spars with actual Funny or Die co-­founder Will Ferrell, who tells the actor that if he interviews 10 cele­brities in two weeks he will get his own network talk show. Eager to be taken seriously, Galifianakis embarks on a road trip with his crew in search of Hollywood stars while a filmmaker documents their quest.

Actors in the film and the show don’t receive questions ahead of time, say Galifianakis and the movie’s director, Scott Aukerman. The humour relies on the guests’ real-time reactions and the audience’s uncertainty about what those A-listers are actually thinking.

“There have been a couple of times where we found out later that they were annoyed,” Aukerman says of past guests. “Sometimes people just get put on to publicity things and they arrive thinking it’s a real interview.”

Across the 88-minute movie, Galifianakis assumes the pose of a self-serious journalist.

To Matthew McConaughey: “I notice that you’re wearing a shirt. Is everything OK?”

To Brie Larson: “I read online that you’re very private and decline to answer questions that make you feel uncomfortable. Is that true and how old were you when you got your first period?”

To Jon Hamm: “Bradley Cooper directed, co-wrote and starred in A Star is Born. Are you hoping that will open doors for other hot idiots?”

The 49-year-old actor, who broke out in the 2009 hit The Hangover, says he probably will retire the web series after the movie. The show drew headlines with appearances by then president Barack Obama and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Galifianakis, whose TV comedy Baskets about the travails of a rodeo clown just wrapped up its fourth and final season, ­recently reflected on the fawning nature of celebrity coverage, the times he couldn’t keep a straight face and the Ferns interview that still baffles him.

What do you think of entertainment news?

The celebrity culture called Hollywood, there’s no culture in it. There’s nothing really to grab on to except rich, privileged people on yachts photographing themselves. People think Hollywood is just a giant playground. It’s work. Every journalist thinks we’re all pranking each other while we’re working. Look, man, I’m almost 50, I don’t prank. With Between Two Ferns, I think there was some kind of deep-seated want in me to capitalise on the humour that can be found in these caste systems that Hollywood has set up.

Have any actors ever got insulted for real by your questions?

There was one where I went up to the director and said, “We’re done with the interview”, because I could sense some real animosity. But I may have misread it because I ended up going to dinner with that guest that night. I think that person was such a great actor that they fooled me.

Who makes a better guest, a ­serious actor or a funny one?

The serious actor is really fertile ground. The more serious the person is, the better it is for me.

Is it hard to insult you?

We write a lot of the insults for the guests to do to me. I don’t think it would work if they didn’t lob them back. I particularly don’t mind being made fun of as long as it’s clever and funny and not necessarily from a hurtful place.

What’s your strategy for keeping a straight face?

Sometimes I do break. Sometimes I can’t get questions out because they’re so mean or so ridiculous. Sometimes I’m nervous and that helps. I don’t know most of the people I interview. I always say, “Hey, if I say anything that is hurtful — I do not want to hurt anyone.” Even when I say that they’re sometimes a little shocked at certain questions.

What do you think of the term “Hollywood liberal”?

Hollywood is liberal for the porno industry and in its haircuts, but everything else, it’s not that liberal.

How has Hollywood changed over the years?

These days, people are being hired by their Twitter followers rather than their talent, and that’s somebody I don’t want to work with. I once went to a reshoot of something a few years ago and there was a Bentley in the parking lot. I was like, “Who’s driving a Bentley around here?” They’re like, “Oh, they cast some Instagram star because he has a lot of followers.” And I looked him up and it’s nothing but a guy with guns and boobs. I don’t know if he ended up in the movie but that bro culture of Hollywood is alive and kicking.

That bro culture is associated with The Hangover, but your character brought something different — we empathised with him.

Listen, if you’re going to play weird, you’ve got to make them loveable.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL