20 facts you might not know about 'Step Brothers'

Reilly met Ferrell when he auditioned for Anchorman but did not make the cut. However, Ferrell and Adam McKay liked him and kept the actor in mind. Reilly co-starred with Ferrell in the McKay-helmed Talladega Nights in 2006. Two years later, in 2008, the trio reunited for Step Brothers.

Steenburgen plays the mother of Ferrell’s Brennan, and it’s not the first time she’s been in that role. In Elf, she played Buddy’s stepmother. In real life, Steenburgen is only 14 years older than Ferrell, but that’s just the nature of the movie industry.

Before Steenburgen got the role, the part of Nancy was reportedly offered to Lesley Ann Warren, perhaps best known for playing Miss Scarlet in the Clue movie. However, at the time, she was on the TV show In Plain Sight and had scheduling conflicts that kept her from being able to shoot the film.

Hey, actors have to make ends meet before they make it big. An Illinois native, Richard Jenkins drove a linen truck for work when he was younger. The boss of that linen company? John C. Reilly’s father. As such, when Reilly was about six, he met Jenkins. Many years later, Jenkins would play Reilly’s dad in Step Brothers.

Dale and Brennan were always going to be played by Reilly and Ferrell. This movie was crafted by them along with McKay. For the role of Brennan’s obnoxious brother Derek, a few people auditioned before Adam Scott got the role. Comedic actor Thomas Lennon and Jon Hamm auditioned. At the time, Hamm had just started on Mad Men and had not been able to show off his comedy chops a ton yet.

Brennan and Dale aren’t the most talented musicians, but that doesn’t stop them. That made it easier for Ferrell and Reilly to go method for those parts of the film. Ferrell actually sings in the movie, and Reilly actually plays the drums.

You can see a sign for Hugalo’s Pizza in Brennan and Dale’s bedroom. That’s the name of the pizza company Ferrell’s character Ricky Bobby works for in Talladega Nights during his break from being a race car driver.

A young Brennan and Derek attend a high school called Great Valley High School. This is also the name of the school that McKay attended in real life.

McKay and Ferrell were fans of slipping relatively obscure sports names into their movies. For example, Michael Keaton’s character in The Other Guys is named Gene Mauch, after the former MLB manager. The bully in Step Brothers is named Chris Gardocki, the name of a former longtime NFL punter.

Brennan mentions smoking marijuana with “Johnny Hopkins” and “Sloan Kettering.” These names are references to two of the foremost medical centers in the United States. Johns Hopkins in Baltimore is a renowned hospital, whereas Sloan Kettering is a cancer treatment and research center in New York.

Before his directing career took over, McKay was a comedic performer. He was a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade and auditioned for Saturday Night Live, where he was given a writing job instead. The rest is history. That being said, before he started making “serious” movies, McKay would always have a cameo in his films. In Step Brothers, he plays one of the job interviewers, crediting himself as “Man Without Glasses.”

These days, the big-screen comedy is all but dead. In 2008, they were still released and were often successful. Step Brothers had a budget of $65 million, which was pretty hefty for a comedy, and made $128.1 million worldwide. However, $100.5 million was generated domestically, and the film industry’s increased reliance on foreign markets has played a role in the death of the theatrical comedy. Step Brothers is a good example of that.

Raunchy comedies are often divisive, and Step Brothers is not different. The movie has a 55 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave it 1.5 stars. On the other hand, there’s the British Film Institute’s “Sight & Sound” poll. Every 10 years, “Sight & Sound” does an extensive poll to name the 10 best movies of all time. It’s perhaps the most venerated movie list. For the 2012 edition, Australian director Justin Kurzel was one of the film professionals asked to participate. He included Step Brothers in his top 10.

Joaquin Phoenix is one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, but he’s also an odd individual. You might think he’d spend his time watching serious art films. Instead, Phoenix has said he has seen Step Brothers more than any other movie.

The climax of Step Brothers takes place at the fictional Catalina Wine Mixer on Catalina Island off the coast of California. Well, in the wake of the film and owing to its popularity, the Catalina Wine Mixer is now all too real. It’s kind of like Lebowski Fest but more grating.

McKay had planned to shoot the Catalina Wine Mixer scenes on Catalina Island. However, when he got there and started scouting, he did not like it and nixed shooting there. Instead, they went back to the coast of the California mainland to shoot. In the background, you can see Catalina Island. This is not a mistake. McKay thought it was funny.

Leave it to McKay, Ferrell, and Reilly to spice up the audio commentary. For the home release, the three provided a commentary primarily done in song. For the proceedings, they were even accompanied by musician Jon Brion.

Scott and Hahn play a married couple in Step Brothers but don’t get along. Maybe that helped them when the two reunited on Parks and Recreation. Hahn had a brief run on the show as a political campaign consultant working in direct opposition to Scott’s Ben Wyatt.

In 2011, McKay tweeted that Ferrell and Reilly were working on a Step Brothers rap album. A while later, he would say the album had fallen apart and was not going to be released. Whether or not this was serious or a bit, we do not know.

For a little while, McKay, Ferrell, and Reilly would consider the possibility of a Step Brothers sequel. Eventually, they started to say it likely would not happen. Now, we can all but write it off. Infamously, McKay and Ferrell had a falling out after McKay did not cast Ferrell as Jerry Buss in Winning Time. Who got the role instead? John C. Reilly.